Takeo Kurita

While in the confines of the [[Sibuyan Sea]] and approaching the San Bernardino Strait, Kurita's force underwent five aerial attacks by U.S. carrier planes which damaged several of his ships, including ''Yamato''.Ito, ''The End of the Imperial Japanese Navy'', p.127. Constant air attacks from Admiral [[William Halsey, Jr|William "Bull" Halsey]]'s [[United States Third Fleet|3rd Fleet]] scored two bomb hits on ''Yamato'', reducing her speed, and numerous torpedo and bomb hits on here sister ship , [[Musashi|Japanese_battleship_Musashi]], mortally wounding her. The Japanese battleship [[Musashi|Japanese_battleship_Musashi]] sank on October 24, 1944, at 7.36pm local time. The mighty battleship capsized and sunk four hours after capsizing, having sustained huge damage after a massive, day-long aerial attack by U.S. forces, sustaining approximately 19 torpedo hits and 17 bomb hits before she sank.

While in the confines of the [[Sibuyan Sea]] and approaching the San Bernardino Strait, Kurita's force underwent five aerial attacks by U.S. carrier planes which damaged several of his ships, including ''Yamato''.Ito, ''The End of the Imperial Japanese Navy'', p.127. Constant air attacks from Admiral [[William Halsey, Jr|William "Bull" Halsey]]'s [[United States Third Fleet|3rd Fleet]] scored two bomb hits on ''Yamato'', reducing her speed, and numerous torpedo and bomb hits on here sister ship , [[Musashi|Japanese_battleship_Musashi]], mortally wounding her. The Japanese battleship [[Musashi|Japanese_battleship_Musashi]] sank on October 24, 1944, at 7.36pm local time. The mighty battleship capsized and sunk four hours after capsizing, having sustained huge damage after a massive, day-long aerial attack by U.S. forces, sustaining approximately 19 torpedo hits and 17 bomb hits before she sank.

The American planes also scorThe Japanese battleship Musashi sank on October 24, 1944, at 19:36 (7:36 PM). She went down in the Sibuyan Sea during the Battle of Leyte Gulf after a massive, day-long aerial attack by U.S. forces, sustaining approximately 19 torpedo hits and 17 bomb hits. ed a number of damaging near misses on other vessels, reducing fleet speed to 18 knots.Ito, ''The End of the Imperial Japanese Navy'', p.128. Knowing that he was already six hours behind schedule and facing the possibility of a sixth attack in the narrow confines of the San Bernardino Strait, Kurita requested air support and turned his fleet west away from Leyte Gulf.Ito, ''The End of the Imperial Japanese Navy'', p. 129.

The American planes also scored a number of damaging near misses on other Japanese vessels, reducing Japanese fleet speed to some 18 knots.Ito, ''The End of the Imperial Japanese Navy'', p.128. Knowing that he was already six hours behind schedule and facing the possibility of a sixth attack in the narrow confines of the San Bernardino Strait, Kurita requested air support and turned his fleet west away from Leyte Gulf.Ito, ''The End of the Imperial Japanese Navy'', p. 129.

Thus began a chain of events that continues to engage historians and biographers to this day. Halsey, believing that he had mauled Kurita's fleet and that the Japanese Center Force was retreating, and believing that he had the orders and authorization to do so, abandoned his station guarding General [[Douglas MacArthur|MacArthur]]'s landing at Leyte Gulf and the San Bernardino Strait, in order to pursue Admiral [[Jisaburō Ozawa]]'s Northern Fleet of Japanese carriers that were sent as a decoy to lure the Americans away from Leyte. But before doing so, in fact before Ozawa's force had been sighted, Halsey had sent a message announcing a "battle plan" to detach his battleships to cover the exit of the strait. With the decision to attack Ozawa, this battle plan was never executed and the heavy ships went north with the carriers. The battle plan called for detaching the battleships to guard San Bernardino Strait, which meant that Halsey's flagship, the battleship {{USS|New Jersey|BB-62|6}}, would have been detached too, leaving him behind while Vice Admiral [[Marc Mitscher]] chased the carriers. Unfortunately for Halsey, after an hour and a half without further air attacks Kurita turned east again at 1715 towards San Bernardino Strait and the eventual encounter with Kinkaid's forces in Leyte Gulf.Ito, ''The End of the Imperial Japanese Navy'', p.132.

Thus began a chain of events that continues to engage historians and biographers to this day. Halsey, believing that he had mauled Kurita's fleet and that the Japanese Center Force was retreating, and believing that he had the orders and authorization to do so, abandoned his station guarding General [[Douglas MacArthur|MacArthur]]'s landing at Leyte Gulf and the San Bernardino Strait, in order to pursue Admiral [[Jisaburō Ozawa]]'s Northern Fleet of Japanese carriers that were sent as a decoy to lure the Americans away from Leyte. But before doing so, in fact before Ozawa's force had been sighted, Halsey had sent a message announcing a "battle plan" to detach his battleships to cover the exit of the strait. With the decision to attack Ozawa, this battle plan was never executed and the heavy ships went north with the carriers. The battle plan called for detaching the battleships to guard San Bernardino Strait, which meant that Halsey's flagship, the battleship {{USS|New Jersey|BB-62|6}}, would have been detached too, leaving him behind while Vice Admiral [[Marc Mitscher]] chased the carriers. Unfortunately for Halsey, after an hour and a half without further air attacks Kurita turned east again at 1715 towards San Bernardino Strait and the eventual encounter with Kinkaid's forces in Leyte Gulf.Ito, ''The End of the Imperial Japanese Navy'', p.132.