Posted on 12/21/2014 3:06:05 PM PST by Jacquerie
James Hornfischer talked about the role of Commander Ernest Evans and his destroyer, the USS Johnston, during the 1944 Battle of Leyte Gulf. The ship was sunk during the battle, and Commander Evans was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor by Congress. In October, 1944, U.S. and Australian forces faced the Japanese Navy in the Philippine Sea. The four day Battle of Leyte Gulf was considered one of the largest naval conflicts of World War II.
His topic is CDR Evans and crew of DD-557, USS Johnston.
Before responding, click the link and watch the video.
Navy Blue & Gold!!
I saw the story of the battle on one of the history channels.
The story is almost unbelievable. Where did we get such men? Something, somehow produced these heroes in WWII. I guess the depression had something to do with it.
They were not just brave, they were good.
I’m always annoyed by aviation centric accounts that don’t even mention Taffy 3.
Supposedly when the Japanese retired a U.S. sailor exclaimed “dammit boys, they’re getting’ away!”
He attended several reunions of Taffy-3. All of the Johnston survivors said they did what any destroyer crew would have done under the same leadership.
Boy did he ever.
Another famous quote from the battle of Samar, where “jeep” carriers, tin cans and destroyer escorts squared off against Japanese cruisers and destroyers:
“Keep it up boys, we’re sucking them into 40mm range.”
The Japanese had battleships in addition to the cruisers and destroyers.
BFLR
The Japanese had battleships in addition to the cruisers and destroyers.
The Japanese battleships couldn’t lower their big guns enough to hit our ships. The shells went right over them.
What is a jock-sniffer ? I’ve heard the term but never really knew what it meant .
My late FIL's jeep carrier was sunk by surface fire from those ships. He'd have been delighted if what you said was true.
The Japanese battleships were using armor piercing 14 inch shells. At first they were going right through both sides of the destroyers and destroyer escorts.
They figured out what was happening pretty quickly and changed to high explosive shells.
My dad was on the West Virginia during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. In the night action at Surigao Straits, West Virginia scored direct hits on Yamashiro in her first salvo. She fire 93 16 in shells at the Japanese Battleship.
My late FIL’s jeep carrier was sunk by surface fire from those ships. He’d have been delighted if what you said was true.
It is true in the case of the Johnston. The big guns were not able to aim down because the Johnston was too close. Read up on the battle.
That’s right.
I should have been more specific: At times during the battle, the big Japanese guns were not able to aim down enough to hit the Johnston because it was too close.
The Japanese AP shells in some cases went right through those unarmored ships and failed to explode. Theory is that the spotters mis-identified their targets (escort carriers, destroyers & destroyer escorts). They were ‘assisted’ in this error by the furious counterattack from the USN task groups.
I remember the West Virginia was either sunk or heavily damaged at Pearl Harbor. It was repaired and eventually got back in the war.
Interesting. Thanks for the info.
I can’t imagine being in the middle of something that horrific.
“The Japanese battleships couldn’t lower their big guns enough to hit our ships. The shells went right over them”
I doubt that. Just the slightest turn away from the target would hat rolled the guns down.
What are jeeps, in the context of naval ships or equipment?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.