#Yamato battle group series#

All three forces would consist of surface ships. Rear-Admiral Shoji Nishimura's and Vice-Admiral Kiyohide Shima's fleets, collectively called Southern Force, would act as mobile strike forces. The Allied landing forces, now lacking air cover, would then be attacked from the west by three Japanese forces: Vice-Admiral Takeo Kurita's command, Centre Force, based in Brunei, would enter Leyte Gulf and destroy the Allied landing forces. 3 rd Fleet away from the landings using an apparently vulnerable force of carriers. Shō-Go 1 called for Vice-Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa's fleet, known as Northern Force, to lure the U.S. Thus, when on 12 October 1944, Nimitz launched a carrier raid against Formosa to make sure that planes based there could not intervene in the Leyte landings, the Japanese put Shō-Go 2 into action, launching wave after wave of attacks against the carriers, losing 600 planes in three days, almost their entire air force (or what was left of it), and leaving the Japanese navy without air cover. The plans were uncompromising, complex, aggressive operations committing all available forces to a decisive battle. Combined Fleet Chief Toyoda Soemu prepared four 'victory' plans: Shō-Go 1 (捷１号作戦 Shō ichigō sakusen) was a major naval operation in the Philippines, while Shō-Go 2, Sho-Go 3 and Sho-Go 4 were responses to attacks on Formosa, the Ryūkyū Islands and the Kurile Islands respectively. The Allied options were equally apparent to the Imperial Japanese Navy. President Franklin Roosevelt adjudicated the dispute he chose the Philippines. Leaving the Philippines in Japanese possession would be a blow to American prestige, and a personal affront to MacArthur, who in 1942 had famously vowed to return. General Douglas MacArthur favoured an invasion of the Philippines, which also lay across the supply lines to Japan. Possession of Formosa would give the Allies control of the sea routes to Japan from southern Asia, severing Japan's links with its garrisons, which would then perish from lack of supplies. Admiral Chester Nimitz favored blockading Japanese forces in the Philippines and attacking Formosa (now Taiwan). This gave the Allies freedom to choose where to strike next. American airmen found it so easy to shoot down the Japanese that they nicknamed the air battle 'The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot'.) (Japanese airmen were not well trained due to Japan's loss of her expierienced pilots. The Allied victory in the Battle of the Philippine Sea in June destroyed the Japanese carrier power and established Allied air and sea superiority over the Western Pacific.

#Yamato battle group series#

The battles of 1943 had driven the Imperial Japanese Army from its bases in the Solomon Islands, and in 1944, a series of Allied amphibious landings supported by large carrier forces captured the Northern Mariana Islands. The Australian heavy cruiser HMAS Australia was hit on 21 October, and organized suicide attacks by the 'Special Attack Force' began on 25 October. Leyte Gulf also saw the first use of kamikaze aircraft by the Japanese.

The battle was the last major naval engagement of World War II. Instead, the Allied navies inflicted a major defeat on the outnumbered Imperial Japanese Navy which took away Japan's strategic force in the Pacific War. The Japanese attempted to repel or destroy the Allied forces stationed on Leyte after the preceding Allied invasion in the Battle of Leyte. It was fought during the Pacific War of World War II, in the seas surrounding the Philippine island of Leyte from 23 October to 26 October 1944 between the Allies and the Empire of Japan. The Battle of Leyte Gulf the largest naval battle in recent history. Leyte – Leyte Gulf – Ormoc Bay – Mindoro – Lingayen Gulf – Luzon – Cabanatuan – Bataan – Manila – Corregidor – Los Baños – Palawan – Visayas – Mindanao Many PT boats, submarines and fleet auxiliaries USS Princeton on fire, east of Luzon, 24 October 1944. Related subjects: World War II Battle of Leyte Gulf