Battle of Leyte Gulf Archives

Crewmen of an American submarine go about their business as their craft heads out on another combat patrol. U.S. submarines decimated Japanese merchant shipping in the Pacific and also sank a number of enemy warships during the course of the war.

Battle of Leyte Gulf

Darter & Dace at the Battle of Leyte Gulf

By David Alan Johnson

As soon as he arrived on the bridge of the submarine USS Dace, Lt. Cmdr. Rafael C. Read more

Huge geysers leap skyward as torpedoes from the submarine USS Archer-Fish strike home against the mammoth Japanese aircraft carrier Shinano. The carrier had initially been slated as the third super battleship of the Imperial Japanese Navy.

Battle of Leyte Gulf

The Shinano Carrier: How Allied Forces Sunk Such a Secret

By Kelly Bell

The first torpedo struck the Shinano carrier farthest aft. Over the next 30 seconds three more warheads detonated against the massive aircraft carrier’s hull, working their way forward. Read more

During the action at Surigao Strait, U.S. Navy PT boats engage Japanese warships intent on reaching the invasion beaches on the Philippine island of Leyte. This painting is by American combat artist Dwight Shepler. (Naval Historical Art)

Battle of Leyte Gulf

How the Battle of Surigao Strait Brought Revenge for Pearl Harbor

By David Alan Johnson

At 2:43 pm on October 24, 1944, one day before the Battle of Surigao Strait, Rear Admiral Jesse B. Read more

Battle of Leyte Gulf

General Douglas MacArthur’s Navy

By Glenn Barnett

In November 1941, the U.S. Asiatic Fleet weighed anchor in Shanghai, China, for the last time. Alarmed by the growing hostility and aggressiveness of the Japanese, Admiral Thomas Hart ordered the outnumbered and outgunned American vessels moved to the relative safety of Manila Bay in the Philippines. Read more

Battle of Leyte Gulf

Battle of Sibuyan Sea

By John Wukovits

In warfare, desperate times call for desperate measures, and in the fall of 1944 the empire of Japan found itself in precisely that predicament. Read more

The Vestal assists a U.S. Navy destroyer.

Battle of Leyte Gulf

The USS Vestal: The Pearl Harbor Attack & Beyond

by Glenn Barnett

On Saturday, December 6, 1941, the repair ship USS Vestal eased alongside the USS Arizona at her berth at Pearl Harbor. Read more

A U.S. Navy destroyer escort was originally conceived as something of a stopgap measure during World War II. Later, the design proved to be effective in all theaters. Here, a destroyer escort is shown under way during sea trials.

Battle of Leyte Gulf

Holding the Line on the High Seas

By Paul B. Cora

Through the first half of World War II, Allied shipping losses to German U-boats climbed steadily from over 400,000 tons in the last four months of 1939 to more than two million tons each in 1940 and 1941, before reaching a staggering 6,266,215 tons in 1942 following the entry of the United States into the war. Read more

Battle of Leyte Gulf

The USS Laffey Survived Waves of Kamikazes Off Okinawa

By John Wukovits

Two warships have been named in honor of Seaman Bartlett Laffey, a Civil War Medal of Honor recipient. Read more

Battle of Leyte Gulf

Death of the Super Battleship Yamato and Musashi

By Herb Kugel

Special Sea Attack Force (SSAF) was an ordinary-sounding name for the pitifully tiny remnant of what was once the mighty Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). Read more

Battle of Leyte Gulf

Doughboy White: The Lost Battalion of Leyte

By Nathan N. Prefer

On October 20, 1944, General Douglas MacArthur redeemed his personal pledge to the people of the Philippines. Read more

Battle of Leyte Gulf

Marine Air Power in the Philippines

By Eric Hammel

After the Japanese stopped resisting in the skies over Rabaul and pulled their aircraft out of the Solomons and Bismarcks battle area in mid-February 1944, it began to appear that U.S. Read more

Desmond Doss, the first conscientious objector to receive the Medal of Honor is the focus of the new Mel Gibson film coming out this November.

Battle of Leyte Gulf

Desmond Doss: The Hero of Hacksaw Ridge

By Nicholas Varangis

“One of the greatest heroes in American history never fired a bullet.” That is the tagline of Director Mel Gibson’s 2016 film, Hacksaw Ridge. Read more

Crewmen service the quad mounted 40mm cannon aboard a U.S. Navy destroyer escort. A 5-inch gun turret is visible in the background.

Battle of Leyte Gulf

Savagery off Samar: Interview with Jack Yusen

Interview by John Wukovits

The 18-year-old seamen bobbed in the oily waters off the Philippine coast with other survivors of the October 25, 1944, battle. Read more

In this vivid painting by artist Jack Fellows, Douglas A-20 Havoc bombers of the 312th Bombardment Group, U.S. Army Air Forces, attack Clark Field in the Philippines on January 14, 1945. The planes use parafrag bombs against Japanese kamikaze aircraft on the ground at the air base near Manila. This was a follow-up raid to one that had taken place a week earlier, and both were intended to destroy suicide aircraft before they had the chance to damage American ships.

Battle of Leyte Gulf

Kamikazes Caught on the Ground: Raid on Clark Field

By Robert F. McEniry, Lt. Col. USAF (ret.)

General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Allied Commander Southwest Pacific Area, kept his promise to return to the Philippine Islands when his Sixth Army under the command of Lt. Read more

Battle of Leyte Gulf

Sinking the Shokaku

By Johnd Domagalski

On the morning of June 13, 1944, the brilliant new aircraft carrier Taiho weighed anchor and slowly moved out of Tawi-Tawi anchorage in the Sulu archipelago in the southwestern Philippines. Read more

Battle of Leyte Gulf

Death of the Fighting Lady: Frank Heineman’s Story

By Joan Hunt

The 13,000 ton Independence-class aircraft carrier USS Princeton, which was commissioned on February 25, 1943, quickly became known as the “Fighting Lady.” Read more

Battle of Leyte Gulf

A Civilian in MacArthur’s Air Force

By Raymond E. Bell

Stephen Pierce Duggan, Jr., wanted to be a United States Marine. When the United States entered World War II, Steve was all set to do his part. Read more

Battle of Leyte Gulf

Confident Carrier Admiral Marc “Pete” Mitscher

By Michael D. Hull

He was a seagoing J.E.B. Stuart who hid beneath weather fronts to make his attacks, and he fought more naval engagements than John Paul Jones and David Farragut combined. Read more

Battle of Leyte Gulf

Clash at Surigao Strait: The Last Battle Line

By David Lippman

In the distance, they could see the jagged flashes of lightning, an incoming squall in the dark. Just before the rain arrived, so did St. Read more

Battle of Leyte Gulf

Fire Control at the Battle of Surigao Strait

by David Alan Johnson

One of the main reasons for the success of the battleships West Virginia, Tennessee, and California at Surigao Strait was their Mk 8 fire control radar, which was used in conjunction with the Mk 8 rangekeeper computer. Read more

From Around the Network

A World War I Retrospective from York University’s History Department

The Korean Occupation of America

Draper Kauffman’s Underwater Demolition Team

Rome: Total War