Battle of Leyte Gulf

The Battle of Leyte Gulf, was the biggest naval battle in modern history. The battle was part of World War II, and happened in the seas near the Philippines island of Leyte. It took place from 23 October to 26 October 1944, between the Allies and the Empire of Japan. The Allies started the battle to cut the way between Japan and its colonies in South East Asia. Japan took its oil for fuel from that area. The Japanese gathered all the ships they had left to fight the Allied troops. However, they failed and lost many ships and aircraft.

Battle of Leyte Gulf
Part of the Pacific War, World War II
The light aircraft carrier USS Princeton afire, east of Luzon, 24 October 1944.
Date 23–26 October 1944 Location Leyte Gulf, The Philippines Result Decisive Allied victory
Belligerents
United States Australia	Empire of Japan
Commanders and leaders
William Halsey, Jr (3rd Fleet) Thomas C. Kinkaid (7th Fleet)	Takeo Kurita (Center Force) Shōji Nishimura † (Southern Force) Kiyohide Shima (Southern Force) Jisaburō Ozawa (Northern Force) Yukio Seki  † (Kamikazes)
Strength
8 fleet carriers 8 light carriers 18 escort carriers 12 battleships 24 cruisers 141 destroyers and destroyer escorts Many PT boats, submarines, and fleet auxiliaries About 1,500 planes	1 fleet carrier 3 light carriers 9 battleships 14 heavy cruisers 6 light cruisers 35+ destroyers 300+ planes (including land-based aircraft)
Casualties and losses
~2,800 dead; 1 light aircraft carrier, 2 escort carriers, 2 destroyers, 1 destroyer escort sunk 200+ planes	~10,500 dead; 1 fleet carrier, 3 light carriers 3 battleships, 10 cruisers, 11 destroyers sunk ~500 planes

The battle was the last big naval fight of World War II. Without fuel, the Imperial Japanese Navy never again sailed to battle. Most of their ships returned to Japan, and were inactive for the rest of the war.

The first use of kamikaze aircraft was during this battle. A kamikaze hit the Australian flagship HMAS Australia on 21 October. Many other suicide attacks by the "Special Attack Force" began on 25 October, and did great damage to the Allied ships.

Other websites

• WW2DB: Leyte Campaign
• Animated History of The Battle of Leyte Gulf Archived 2008-07-20 at the Wayback Machine
• Battle Experience: Battle for Leyte Gulf
• Task Force 77 Action Report: Battle of Leyte Gulf
• "Turkey Trots to Water" Archived 2006-04-26 at the Wayback Machine — detailed description of the battle from battleship.org
• Orders of battle: Sibuyan Sea, Surigao Strait, Cape Engaño, Samar.
• "Glorious Death: The Battle of Leyte Gulf" by Tim Lanzendörfer
• battle-of-leyte-gulf.com
• The Battle Off Samar - Taffy III at Leyte Gulf by Robert Jon Cox
• Leyte Gulf Naval Chess Game, a free, educational boardgame of the battle, to print off, assemble, and play
• Return to the Philippines: public domain documents from ibiblio.org
• The Battle for Leyte Gulf Revisited Archived 2005-11-26 at the Wayback Machine by Irwin J. Kappes
• Timeline for USS Samuel B. Roberts (DE 413)
• Japan's TA-Operation: A Blueprint for Disaster Archived 2012-12-05 at Archive.today by Irwin J. Kappes