Leyte Gulf - Battle of Surigao Strait - Animated

vice admiral Shoji nishimura is standing on the bridge of the battleship Yamashiro as the 30,000 ton dreadnut rounds the southern tip of the island of panan in the Philippines joining Yamashiro is her sister ship fuzo along with the Heavy Cruiser Mami and four destroyers the time is 10:50 p.m. on the 24th of October 1944 and this is the southern force of operation show one the last attempt of the Japanese Imperial Navy to Halt the Allied Advance towards the home Islands nishim mura warships are heading into the sural strait the southern entrance to the late Gulf when they hear the sound of small boat engines the Japanese Sailors open the shutters on their search lights and shine them to the north there they make out the tiny profiles of 39 US Navy Patrol boats which appear to be launching a surprise torpedo attack the Battle of sural Strait the last Battleship versus Battleship combat in Naval History has begun the first a quick word from our sponsor World of Warships a free-to-play online multiplayer PC game where you can command the hardest hitting World Wars 1 and two warships including Musashi and Yamato eating a variety of classes from battleships to submarines recruit legendary commanders upgrade your vessels and stake your claim to Naval Supremacy with or against an active community of players around the world in varied thrilling and immersive battles with a constant flow of new in-game content every month it's also available on consoles there are seven different permanent or seasonal battle types to choose from Co-op battles random battles rank battles Clan battles rules scenarios and training download World of Warships for free using the link in the description during registration use the code warships to get exclusive rewards including a bunch of dblo credits premium account time and a free ship after you complete 15 battles the previous day saw the beginning of the battle of late Gulf the remnants of the Japanese Imperial Navy have been split into three prongs Northern Central and Southern so far vice admiral Teo Kit's Center Force has borne the brunt of the fighting after losing three Cruisers and the super Battleship Musashi in the battle of the Saban sea to the north vice admiral gaburo aa's decoy Force has been discovered by Scout aircraft from Admiral William Holly's third Fleet which contains the the vast majority of the US Navy's most powerful units believing that aa's force is the main threat Hy signals his formation commanders at 8:22 p.m. on the 24th ordering them to pursue and engage the enemy force in reality these four Japanese aircraft carriers have already lost most of their Air Wings 2 hours later Hy informs the commander of seventh fleet vice admiral Thomas King Cade that he is moving North and intends to attack the Japanese carriers seventh fleet will now fight alone the role of kin kade's seventh fleet is to provide close Naval gunfire support to the US Army Landings on latay and therefore his force does not include powerful Fleet carriers like those of H's third Fleet however rear Admiral Jesse alend dorf's bombardment group includes six battleships eight Cruisers 28 destroyers and 39 PT boats a force which can pack a major punch if they find themselves in close quarters combat with the departure of H's third Fleet Admiral King Cade is now informed that a Japanese Squadron is attempting to Transit the surag straight to attack the vulnerable Landing beaches he detaches alen dorf's bombardment Force warships formerly task group 77.2 and sends them South to block the Japanese path King Kate has also been led to believe that Hy has detached task force 34 comprising fast battleships from his main Force to block the northern entrance to the late a gulf the San Bernardino straight in reality Hy hasn't done this not realizing that his Northern flank is actually completely unprotected King Kate orders oldendorf to move off to Ambush the southern Force before they make it through the surgal strait oldendorf warships are all that stand between the Japanese Southern force and the Allied Landings meanwhile the commander of the Japanese Southern force is under no illusions that he and his men are likely headed to their deaths early on the 24th a Japanese float plane reported American warships massing around the sural Strait in order to Transit the narrow opening rear Admiral nishimura warships will have to form in a single file line meaning alen dorf's battleships have already crossed the te which places the Japanese at a massive disadvantage nishimura had expected to be reinforced by vice admiral shima's fifth Fleet consisting of two heavy Cruisers one light Cruiser and four destroyers but Shima has been lagging behind Southern Force nishimura has decided not to wait for these reinforcements and Shima won't be able to provide adequate support in the coming battle Southern Force presses on anyway Nish shimura's only son was killed 2 years earlier and many of Southern forces's officers believe their leader sees this operation as a chance to join him in death as it stands alen dorf's warships are ready to Grant this wish at just before 11:00 p.m. 39 Patrol boats under the command of Lieutenant Commander Robert Leon launch an attack on the far larger enemy vessels Leon's Fleet of small but fast PT boats have a two-fold mission they are to harass and distract the Japanese while also reporting their position so oldendorf can adjust his formation accordingly splitting into three ships the PT boats slash through the waters of the sural strait while the Japanese warships fire star shells and sweep the ocean with their search lights in order to bring their guns to bear on the Americans a PT boat captain records what he is seeing reporting I've got one big one in sight my god there are two more big ones and maybe another nura's warships open fire with their main and secondary batteries but the PT boats are frustratingly hard to hit Columns of water erupt around the small Patrol craft but little damage is caused 10 boats are hit and only one PT 493 is severely damaged with the tiny vessel taking on water PT 493 Skipper bees her on Pan Island when the rest of the boats are in torpedo range each fires their four Torpedoes and head back to safety these hit and run attacks last for the next three and a half hours the PT boats putting constant pressure on the Japanese Fleet despite the brave assault no torpedo hits are scored and Southern Force continues heading through the sural strait with their formation intact however nishimura luck is about to turn as Admiral oldendorf orders his destroyers into action at 2:30 a.m. Captain Jesse coward leads Destroyer Squadron 54 into the fry with three coming down the Eastern side of the sural straight while two hug the western shore following just behind are the six destroyers of Captain Kenmore McCain's Destroyer Squadron 24 in two columns assigned to McCain's force is the Australian Destroyer hmas Aruna which is attacking the Japanese formation from the port side finally Captain Roland smoot's nine ship Destroyer Squadron 56 will attack in three columns combined these destroyers carry an impressive Arenal of 214 Torpedoes at just before 3:00 a.m. the Japanese Destroyer shur reports three unidentified ships steaming through the Darkness at a range of 5 miles yamashiro's powerful search lights train on the lead American Destroyer the USS Remy making the exposed crew feel like animals in a cage Captain coward immediately assigns targets as the Japanese warships once again open fire the flash of heavy guns lighting up the night sky the Destroyers press forward for another 3 minutes to close the range while shell splashes erupt all around them one of the Destroyer captains later wrote of the experience I have never been in a quieter more tense atmosphere than existed from the moment we started down at 3:00 a.m. Destroyer Squadron 54 is close enough to launch Torpedoes USS Remy Macwan and Melvin fire 27 Torpedoes before breaking off to the Northeast at flank speed on the bridge of each Destroyer the officers stare at their stopwatches to time the distance to impact 8 minutes later two Torpedoes from the USS Melvin strike the battleship fusso a midships which destroys her boilers the stricken Battleship falls out of formation as its speed is cut nearly in half the heavy crza Mami nearly collides with Fuso as she begins listing to starboard 2 minutes later the Destroyers mcdermut and Monson fire their Torpedoes with mcder targeting the Japanese Destroyer column and Monson the Yamashiro meanwhile Fuso is attempting to continue the mission but the large battleship is taking on water at an alarming rate at 3:18 a.m. her commanding officer decides to break off the engagement and Retreat to the South to allow fuso's crew to perform damage control 2 minutes later the second spread of 18 Torpedoes find their targets the Destroyer yagumo Takes Two Hits and is vaporized by a magazine explosion sinking within minutes of her crew of 200 only two survive Destroyer mishio takes one torpedo which leaves her dead in the water as gumo has her bow blown off but her crew is able to hold the flooding allowing the wounded Destroyer to retire to the South one of monson's torpedoes strikes Battleship Yamashiro on her port side near the AR turret magazine her crew floods the magazine to prevent an explosion but yamashiro's speed is cut in half like her sister ship Fuso however a far worse fate is about to befall Fuso as the damaged Battleship retreats to the South she is being shadowed by two p ke boats which are reporting her position at 3:38 a.m. the Waters of the sural strait are suddenly brightened by a tremendous explosion Lookouts aboard the American battleships 25 nautical miles to the north are amazed by the ball of fire which Rises into the night sky it is not known what caused the final explosion but the battleship fuzo sinks in just 12 minutes of the 1,630 sailors aboard only 10 survived the oil fire unaware of the disaster Admiral nishimura attempts to radio Fuso at 3:52 a.m. but receives no response nonetheless he continues to charge forward through the narrow Waters of the straight nishimura is also hopeful that Admiral shima's fifth Fleet will catch up and help Southern Force break through to the late Gulf the wounded Japanese formation staggers forth but this time they are headed straight into the masted guns of six US Navy batt ships four heavy Cruisers and four light Cruisers aboard the USS West Virginia the Fire Control Officers in the combat information center have been aching for a chance to get into battle finally at 3:53 a.m. the approaching Japanese Fleet closes within 26,000 Y into the range of West Virginia's 16in main batteries the old Battleship which had been sunk during the attack on P Harbor and then raised from the dead fires a full Salvo at yamashi Cho which is leading the enemy formation the Gunnery officer tracks the rounds before excitedly reporting a first Salvo hit on the enemy Battleship 2 minutes later fellow Pearl Harbor veteran battleships Tennessee Maryland Pennsylvania and California along with Mississippi join the fry Yamashiro is immediately straddled by fire but is herself entirely blind to the enemy battleships within minutes a salvo from Maryland smashes into the massive Pagoda Mast which sets Yamashiro on fire at the same time the American Cruisers have also found the range and are lobbing 8 and 6in shells at the Japanese warships the USS Boise's Gunnery officer doesn't even pause to track the fall of his salvos on radar instead ordering the ship's batteries to engage the enemy with continuous rapid fire in just 18 minutes the Cruisers alone will fire over 3,100 shells at the Japanese Fleet the main target continues to be Yamashiro which is taking a pounding the old battleship is now firing back with its 14in guns but the lack of radar guidance is a serious disadvantage in night action despite this she manages to straddle the light Cruiser USS Denver and hits the Destroyer Alan W Grant with her secondary battery at 4:08 a.m. Admiral shima's Fleet arrives at the southern end of the sural strait and steams North to join the battle yet the American Fleet is simply too ful aboard Boise a loader breaks his hand loading shells into the gun breach but fights through the pain as he continues to feed rounds into the gun at this time Admiral nishimura radio Admiral karita and the Japanese Center Force we proceed till totally annihilated I have definitely accomplished my mission as pre-arranged please rest assured Yamashiro attempts to swing to port in order to unmask all 12 of her 14in guns but this only makes her a larger Target for marauding US destroyers two more Torpedoes slam into her causing her to list heavily to Port Captain Shinoda finally gives the order to abandon ship but very few crewmen make it to the lifeboats at 419 a.m. just 26 minutes after the American battleships opened fire Yamashiro capsizes and sinks to the bottom of the surgal Strait in a morbid coincidence only 10 of her 1,636 crewmen survived the ordeal just like her sister ship fuzo both Captain Shinoda and Admiral nishimura go to the bottom with her meanwhile vice admiral shima's Fleet finally sails into combat just as Admiral oldendorf orders ceasefire after being hit by yamashiro's secondary battery the Destroyer Alan W Grant has also taken Friendly Fire which causes extensive damage to the ship as such an eerie silence Falls across the battlefield while the wrecks of Japanese war ships continue to burn shima's Flagship The Heavy Cruiser Nai prepares to take advantage of the lull to launch torpedos against the American battleships as she is maneuvering to launch an attack she sails across the smoldering Hulk of the heavy cruisen Mami believing the ship is dead in the water Na's Captain attempts to move ahead of her however Mami is actually still making eight knots and Na's Navigator badly miscalculates the approach a 4:30 a.m. the two Cruisers Collide nai's bow is damaged and the cruiser begins to flood but her damage control team manages to get the situation under control although Mami has been hit above the waterline the Sparks from the Collision ignite a fire on the deck which quickly spreads and detonates the Cruiser's Torpedoes her starboard engine is destroyed meaning the ship can only make a mere four knots at this point aboard nachche Admiral Shima scans the waters ahead and attempts to raise Admiral nishimura but there is no reply he decides to retreat and call off Southern forces's Mission later writing if we continued dashing further north it was quite clear that we should only fall into a ready trap watching the radar screen abort his Flagship the cruiser Louisville Admiral oldendorf notices that the surviving Japanese warships are withdrawing out of the surgal street unwilling to quit the battle yet oldendorf gives Chase with the Cruisers Louisville Portland and Denver along with several destroyers just as the pre-dawn sun begins to brighten the sky the American Sailors aboard the pursuing ships are appalled by the sights that greets them a Gunnery officer aboard the Destroyer USS benan wrote I counted eight distinct fires and the oily surface of the gulf was littered with debris and groups of Japanese Sailors who were clinging to bits of wreckage and calling out to us as we raced Past after 45 minutes Admiral dorf's Force catches up with the stricken Mami and the Destroyer asumo which has been rescuing survivors from the fuzo the American Cruisers once again open fire this time focusing on Mami between 5:30 and 5:35 a.m. The Heavy Cruiser takes more than 10 direct hits from six and 8 in shells but she refuses to sink her commander throws off the pursuers with a course change and the American warships decide not to chase Mami further 3 hours later her Port engines will break down leaving the ship dead in the water Mami will be attacked and bombed by American aircraft later in the morning and at 10:47 a.m. she is scuttled by her crew asumo meets a similar end while she is still recovering survivors from fuzo a squadron of Patrol boats speed into a hit-and run torpedo attack the Japanese never spot the tiny craft before they launched their Torpedoes at 6:30 a.m. a torpedo from PT 323 strikes as aumo a mid ships leaving her a drift within half an hour the light cruises Denver and Colombia along with three American destroyers come across asumo which opens fire a short Jewel breaks out but the Japanese destroyer's fate is already sealed by 7:21 a.m. her bow is already a wash although her 5-in guns continue to fire a minute later she slips below the surface with no more Japanese warships in range alen dorf's ships form an anti-aircraft formation and steam South to look for more targets his formation comes across scores of Japanese survivors bobbing in the water but almost all of them refuse to grab a line the captain of the Destroyer USS daily later recalled hundreds of survivors were reported in the water almost all of whom refused to be rescued and were left to their fate some of the Japanese Sailors managed to swim to the islands of late or dinagat only to be set upon by Filipino gorillas as Vengeance for the brutal Japanese Occupation of the Philippines the gorillas Massacre the sailors with bolo by late morning of the 25th of October the battle of the surgal strait is over the last Battleship on Battleship action in Naval History is a decisive victory for the US 7th Fleet of the two battleships one Heavy Cruiser and four destroyers which composed Admiral nishimura Southern Force only the Destroyer shur survives the engagement although there is no definitive number of Japanese casualties It is believed that over 3,500 Sailors in the Imperial Japanese Navy have perished during the battle meanwhile the Americans suffer just 39 men killed and 144 wounded while PT 493 and the Destroyer Alan W Grant are the only US Navy vessels seriously damaged during the engagement the Sou Southern prong of operation show one has been wiped out off the island of Samar to the north men aboard the small Destroyer Escort USS Samuel B Roberts are jubilant at the great Victory nicknamed the Samy B by her crew Samu B Roberts is part of task unit Taffy 3 which is providing close support for the invasion of late Sailors on Deck could see the distant fireworks to their South while the men in the combat information center listen to the battle of on the radio amid cheering and Applause executive officer Bob Roberts turns to the skipper Lieutenant Commander Robert Copeland and exclaims by God I think we finally got him however umber notes to the crew of the Samuel B Roberts and all of the men in Taffy 3 the most powerful Japanese surface Fleet to ever sail into combat is heading right for them in the morning Taffy 3 will take part in one of the most desperate Naval battles in history download world of warships for free using the link in the description during registration use the code warships to get exclusive rewards including a bunch of dubloons credits premium account time and a free ship after you complete 15 Bassel

Channel: The Operations Room

Views: 659,117

Keywords: Time-Lapse, History, Second World War, ww2, Documentary, Aircraft Carrier, Pearl Harbour, aircraft, animated, war, the pacific, grumman f-6f hellcat, grumman, hellcat, f6-f, uss enterprise, us navy, imperial japanese navy, mitsubishi zero, zero, helldiver, battle of leyte gulf, battle of surigao strait

Id: asrs8-mET2c

Length: 21min 21sec (1281 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 27 2023