By dusk, October 24, 1944, the Japanese plan to trap the U.S. 7th Fleet inside Leyte Gulf
appeared to be falling apart. Already, one major element of that plan—VADM Takeo Kurita’s
Center Force—had hit a snag. The previous day, Kurita’s ships had been attacked by
two American submarines while traversing Palawan Passage. USS Darter and USS Dace had fired
a spread of torpedoes, sinking two Japanese cruisers and badly damaging a third. Throughout
the day, U.S. carrier planes from Task Force 38 flew missions over the Sibuyan Sea, sinking
the supposedly unsinkable super-battleship Musashi and heavily damaging the cruiser Myōkō.
As daylight faded, it appeared doubtful that Kurita would be able to keep to his schedule
and pass through San Bernardino Strait before nightfall.
However, Kurita’s ships weren’t the only Japanese vessels headed for a rendezvous at
Leyte Gulf. Over 300 miles away, another Japanese task force was poised to make its attack.
In the Sulu Sea, two Japanese surface groups—one commanded by VADM Shoji Nishimura and another
commanded by VADM Kiyohide Shima —were supposed to link up, enter Surigao Strait, and reach
Leyte Gulf from the south. Between them, Nishimura and Shima possessed thirteen ships: two battleships,
three heavy cruisers, one light cruiser, and seven destroyers. The two admirals hoped they
might achieve the surprise that Kurita had not.
Unfortunately, Nishimura’s and Shima’s groups did not link up—not exactly. Due
to a professional rivalry, both commanders refused to engage in radio communication with
each other. They both kept to their schedules, but the two task groups never consolidated
prior to their entry into the strait. They advanced independently, with Shima’s group
trailing Nishimura’s by about 25 miles. More problematically, American pilots were
searching for them from the skies above. At 6 A.M., October 24, RADM Ralph Davison’s
Task Group 38.4 launched 56 scout aircraft to cover the waters of the Sulu and Bohol
Seas. Thanks to near-perfect visibility, the search teams found the enemy quickly. At 8
A.M., off the coast of Panay, scout planes from USS Franklin found three Japanese destroyers—a
support group that planned to rendezvous with Shima’s task force—as they made their
way south. Franklin’s dive bombers attacked, sinking one destroyer—the Wakaba—and forcing
the other two to retreat to Manila after rescuing Wakaba’s survivors.
Then, at 8:30, another search team, this one led by LT Raymond Moore of USS Enterprise,
sighted Nishimura’s group in the waters southwest of Negros Island. Moore sent a radio
message reporting two enemy battleships, a heavy cruiser, and four destroyers. Nearby,
another search group under the direction of CDR Robert Riera heard Moore’s report and
decided to link up with him. Together, Riera’s and Moore’s combined group contained 16
F6F Hellcats and 12 SB2C Helldivers. Flying through a wall of antiaircraft fire,
including some of the new sanshikidan “beehive” shells, USS Enterprise’s planes dived on
the two battleships—Fuso and Yamashiro—hitting them with their 500-pound bombs and their
5-inch wing-mounted rockets. One bomb exploded atop one of Fuso’s 14-inch gun turrets and
Yamashiro developed a serious list when a bomb exploded atop its stern, igniting a depth
charge and two floatplanes. However, neither battleship fell out of formation. After the
crews doused the flames and leveled their ships, Fuso and Yamashiro proceeded onward
as if nothing had happened. Low on fuel, USS Enterprise’s aircraft beat a hasty retreat,
minus one fighter plane that had been shot down.
Although largely ineffective, this air attack gave the American admirals crucial time to
prepare. VADM Thomas Kinkaid’s 7th Fleet was nearby and available to engage enemy forces.
At 2:45 P.M., Kinkaid sent a message to the commander of his battleship task group, RADM
Jesse Oldendorf. Kinkaid advised: “Japs able to arrive at Leyte Gulf tonight. Make
ready for night battle.” Promptly, Oldendorf moved his surface ships
from the western side of Leyte Gulf to the north end of Surigao Strait, deploying them
inside the narrow channel between Southern Leyte Peninsula and Dinagat Island. Six battleships—including
five that had been involved in the 1941 air raid at Pearl Harbor—formed Oldendorf’s
main line with three destroyers guarding each flank. Eight cruisers and 15 destroyers formed
the next line. Additionally, eight more destroyers were already in the strait when Oldendorf’s
task group arrived. These ships belonged to DesRon 54, which had been on antisubmarine
patrol since October 20. Finally, Oldendorf dispatched 39 PT boats to the southern end
of the strait to stage an ambush. Twenty-four of them took up position east of Panaon Island,
and the other 15 took up positions in the Bohol Sea.
By dusk, the chessboard was set. The American ships were in position and the Japanese were
steaming straight ahead. Battle was inevitable. The PT boats struck first. At 10:30 P.M.,
Nishimura’s task group passed between Bohol and Camiguin Island, and there, the first
wave of PTs charged in at high speed, launching their torpedoes. Over the next half hour,
twelve PTs attacked the Japanese ships. They caused a nuisance, but inflicted no major
damage. One PT boat was lost and nine others were damaged by shell fire.
None of the American torpedoes hit their targets, but the confusing attack forced Nishimura’s
ships to fire star shells into the sky to illuminate the area for the Japanese gunners.
These bright explosions were seen by Oldendorf’s sailors, who could now tell that the Japanese
were on their way. Twenty-two-year-old LT James Holloway III
served on a Fletcher-class destroyer, USS Bennion, which was assigned to the support
line in front of the battleships. From his position at the torpedo director optics station,
Holloway could see the commencement of the battle:
"It was 25 October 1944 and I was standing up through the hatch in the ship’s main
director, scanning the horizon with my binoculars. The rumble of heavy gunfire had become continuous
and the lower quadrant of the southern sky reflected a steady glow from the gun-muzzle-flashes.
The PT boats had sprung their ambush and triggered a fierce firefight. The Battle of Surigao
Strait was underway! There was a tug on my trouser leg and a sailor at the pointer station
next to me motioned to my eyepiece. Looking through the magnification of the director
optics, the scene to the south became much clearer. The crosshairs of the lens were fixed
at the base of a jumbo pagoda of a Japanese battleship. The flashes from their main turret
salvos and the rapid fire of their secondary battery were lighting up the entire ship.
Her bow waves showed she was making at least 25 knots. I couldn’t suppress a gasp, and
I muttered, ‘It looks just like the picture of a Japanese battleship!’ The sailor next
to me said, ‘Lieutenant, that is a Japanese battleship!’"
Having forced the PT boats to flee, Nishimura’s ships steamed ahead, and at 2:44 A.M., October
25, they came within firing range of the American destroyers. Five destroyers belonging to Capt.
Jesse Coward’s DesRon 54 attacked first. Three of them approached Nishimura’s line
by coming a few points off the starboard-bow of Nishimura’s lead ship, while two others
approached from the port-bow. Nishimura’s ships were in single file: four destroyers
leading, then the Yamashiro, then the Fuso, and finally the heavy cruiser Mogami bringing
up the rear. Japanese searchlights picked up the approaching tin cans, and their gunners
began peppering the area with shellfire. According to plan, DesRon 54’s destroyers
approached to within 8,000 yards and then began launching torpedoes. Between them, the
five destroyers launched 47 fish. Seven of them struck their targets. One Japanese destroyer—the
Yamagumo—blew up in a fiery inferno, having taken two direct hits to its torpedo magazine.
It sank to the bottom in under two minutes. Two other destroyers—Michisio and Asagumo—took
hits that ripped enormous holes in their hulls. Although both ships managed to sail out of
the strait, the crews had to abandon their ships shortly after daylight when an American
destroyer arrived to finish them off. Finally, the battleship Fuso took three torpedo hits
in quick succession, causing it to lose power and drop out of formation. Lightless and taking
on water, Fuso drifted helplessly, until around 4 A.M. when it suddenly capsized, taking nearly
its entire contingent to a watery grave. After executing these attacks, DesRon 54’s
ships peeled off to the east and west, laying smoke to obscure their retreat. Then, at 3:27,
a second wave of American destroyers sailed into the fray. This was DesRon 24, which consisted
of six destroyers. They came down along the coastline of southeastern Leyte, and they
fired a spread of torpedoes from the west side of Nishimura’s line.
At this point, only three of Nishimura’s ships continued to advance, the battleship
Yamashiro, the heavy cruiser Mogami, and the destroyer Shigure. Now the Yamashiro took
heavy damage. One torpedo struck the battleship’s port quarter, causing minor damage, while
another struck at a depth of 22 feet, causing heavy flooding and dropping the battleship’s
speed to five knots. Delighted by the radio chatter from DesRons
54 and 24, Oldendorf ordered yet another torpedo attack. At 3:34, he sent a message to Capt.
Roland Smoot, the commander of DesRon 56, telling him to take his ships forward and
“get the big boys.” Smoot’s nine ships made haste, traveling
in three columns, one down the east side of the strait, another down the west side, and
the third down the middle. Smoot instructed each skipper to close to within 6,000 yards,
fire five torpedoes, and then retreat under smoke. LT Holloway’s vessel, USS Bennion,
accompanied the western group. Bennion was last in a column of three. Holloway recalled
the moment his vessel began its run toward the enemy fleet:
"The Bennion was now running in and out of rain squalls and it was very dark. I could
barely make out the other two destroyers in our three-ship division. As the ship accelerated,
almost simultaneously, the ship’s general announcing system broadcast, ‘Starting run-in
for the attack!’ I had been momentarily diverted, and when I again looked through
the optics, I was startled to see how much larger the image of the Japanese battleship
had grown. As our destroyers broke out of the shadow of the shoreline, we were immediately
taken under fire by the Japanese battleships and cruisers. It was strange to be rushing
through the dark, closing with the enemy at a relative speed of more than 50 knots, not
firing our own guns, but receiving the steady gunfire of the Japanese ships. We were running
through the explosions of the shots falling around us. The towering splashes of the incoming
14-inch and 8-inch shells were close enough to wet our weather decks. Both sides were
also firing star shells and their illumination added to the eerie aspect of the scene."
One by one, DesRon 56’s destroyers closed to the predetermined firing range and launched
their torpedoes. Bennion’s crew fired the squadron’s last salvo. As gunnery officer,
LT Holloway had the responsibility of determining when to pull the trigger.
"When it was Bennion’s turn, the captain called out, ‘Launch torpedoes!’ The Japanese
battleship completely filled the viewing glass of my optics. The crosshairs indicated that
the torpedo aiming-points were stabilized on the waterline just below the foremast.
Glowing dials showed the torpedo tubes were trained clear and the torpedo gyros were set.
I pushed the fire button on the torpedo control console and stood up to see our five fish
shoot out of their tubes. I could hear them slap the water and knew they were running
hot and straight. As Bennion retired to the north at 30 knots, the scene of action was
one of growing confusion. The Japanese formation had disintegrated. Some of its ships were
circling out of control. Others were dead in the water. Many were on fire and they shuddered
from massive internal explosions. Still others were unrecognizable with bows gone, sterns
blown away, and topsides mangled." According to plan, USS Bennion veered away
to the west, following behind USS H. L. Edwards and USS Leutze. As the destroyers made haste,
in the middle of the channel, tremendous shell splashes tossed geysers into the air. The
American cruisers and battleships were now adding their big guns to the mix. Prior to
the battle, Oldendorf had ordered his battleships and cruisers to preselect a firing zone between
17,000 and 20,000 yards from the main line. At 3:51, as the Japanese ships steamed into
it, this firing zone came alive with shell splashes. A salvo of 16-inch shells tore into
the superstructure of Yamashiro, and a few minutes later, another shell exploded inside
one of Yamashiro’s amidships turrets. Farther behind, a salvo of 8-inch shells fired by
an American cruiser slammed into the bridge of Mogami, killing its captain and XO. Sadly
for the Americans, twenty cruiser rounds also slammed into a friendly destroyer, USS Albert
Grant, which had not cleared the firing zone, killing 34 men.
From the damaged bridge of Yamashiro, Admiral Nishimura ordered his flagship to come about.
As Yamashiro turned west, then southwest, it cut across the path of USS Bennion. LT
Holloway was still at his station and he gasped when he saw the mammoth battleship careening
toward his ship. He swung his director optics onto Yamashiro, which he quickly identified
as an enemy vessel. The sailor at the range-finder reported that Bennion’s second salvo of
torpedoes were locked on with fire control radar. Shouting to Bennion’s skipper, CDR
Joshua Cooper, Holloway asked for permission to fire the five remaining torpedoes at the
deepest depth setting. Cooper relayed the command to his torpedo officer, and promptly,
the second torpedo mount swung to port. When the ships were side-by-side, only 3,000 yards
apart, Holloway pushed the button. The torpedoes leaped into the water, and at 4:05, one of
them made contact. It struck Yamashiro’s starboard engine room, flooding it, while
another last-minute torpedo—probably fired by USS Newcomb—struck Yamashiro’s starboard
beam. With four holes below the water line, Yamashiro was listing badly and sinking fast.
As it drifted south, Yamashiro managed to fire only a few shells in reply. Then the
ship’s engineers restored power to the engines. Suddenly, Yamashiro lurched forward at 12
knots, but this pushed unwanted water into its hull. The unexpected jolt in speed proved
to be the battleship’s undoing. At 4:19, Yamashiro suddenly capsized, taking 1,630
sailors with it, including Admiral Nishimura. U.S. forces managed to rescue only three survivors.
150 others were found alive and splashing in the water, but they refused to be rescued,
and of those, only ten managed to swim to shore.
As Yamashiro went under, at 4:22, RADM Shima’s task group arrived and added its weight to
the battle. As Shima’s flagship, the Nachi, closed the distance to the American fleet,
it collided with one of Nishimura’s ships, the badly-damaged Mogami, which was trying
to get out of range of the American guns. Taking stock of the damage, Shima decided
it was fruitless to continue the hellish march forward into the Americans’ trap. He ordered
the whole force to turn around and abandon the Surigao Strait operation. Only six of
Shima’s ships managed to get to safety. As the light cruiser Abukuma tried to come
about, it was attacked by an American PT boat and lost. Only two of Nishimura’s ships
managed to escape, the Mogami and the Shigure, but even the crew of the Mogami had to abandon
their ship later that morning, with one of Shima’s ships scuttling it near Bohol Island.
Altogether, the Japanese had lost seven ships in Surigao Strait and over 3,700 sailors killed.
By contrast, the Americans had lost only one PT boat and fewer than 40 sailors killed.
It had been a lopsided victory. At daylight on October 25, the exhausted Americans
went to work trying to pull survivors from the wrecks of the Japanese ships. Every member
of Oldendorf’s task group knew that the U.S. Navy had won a decisive victory.
Although the Japanese stood little chance at breaking through the American line, the
U.S. Navy had triumphed because of the near flawless cooperation of every ship in Oldendorf’s
group. From the smallest PT boat to the largest battlewagon, every ship had a role to play.
By working together, 7th Fleet had achieved the type of victory that every sailor dreamed
about—a crushing victory with minimal losses.