Taffy 3, most don’t know what the name means or the heroic deeds that were done off the coast of the Philippines 75 years ago today, but once you hear the story of bravery of American sailors in some of the smallest warships of WWII taking on the biggest the Imperial Japanese Navy could muster in late 1944, you’ll never forget.
The Naval History and Heritage Command Official entry for the Battle off Samar. Here
An abridged video from the History Channel of Taffy 3’s desperate fight to avoid annihilation by Japanese battleships and cruisers. Here
I’ve seen several documentaries on this action plus many books. Those were some bad ass Americans, given a impossible task and far exceeding their expectations. They saved a hell of a lot of personnel and ships. Those are the people that should be having streets, parks and schools named for them. Glad this articles up here. Get your kids to check it out. Doubt they teach this in school anymore.
…a little side story…”Bull” Halsey had fallen for the empty Japanese carrier decoys which 8s why the battleships were gone (and how sweet would an artillery duel of Iowa class vs. Yamoto class, 18″ vs. 16″ would have been!”, and was being frantically recalled by Admiral Nimitz during the action.
The message Nimitz sent was intended to be, simply, “Where are your battleships?” Thing is, the normal practice before encrypting and sending a message was to add more words as “padding”. This was done here, as well.
…thing is, some crazy SWO either being funny or just not thinking about it, made an…interesting…choice.
…therefore, the message that William “Bull” Halsey received was:
“TURKEY TROTS TO WATER GG FROM CINCPAC ACTION COM THIRD FLEET INFO COMINCH CTF SEVENTY-SEVEN X WHERE IS RPT WHERE IS TASK FORCE THIRTY FOUR RR THE WORLD WONDERS ”
…The. World. Wonders.
…supposedly the furious Halsey yanked off his hat and stomped on it, but he broke off from the carriers at once and made a vain attempt to reach Leyte in time.
Lucky for the Marines, a Fletcher class, a flotilla of DEs, a few jeep carriers, and God, ran off the mighty Yamoto for the last time…
love some of the U-Goob comments
“I’m surprised that the Johnston could even float with the massive balls that the crew had.”
good book to read about this battle is Last Stand Of The Tin Can Sailors, by James D. Hornfischer
…interesting thing I learned on the Japanese side, after watching a very good animated feature called “Graves of the Fireflies”, that centered on orphaned Japanese children. The only thing we learned about their father was that he was an officer on the Maya.
…it was a fiction, but the SHIP was real, so I looked it up.
…seems it was a Takao-class cruiser that was part of the Southern attack force aimed at Leyete. She was torpedoed by the USS Dace and sunk, but 143 men were rescued by the Musashi.
…only to have the Musashi mercilessly hammered to piecesat the end of the same action the next day.
So the men of the Musashi had TWO chances to die in two days. Lucky guys, huh?
…war is hell. Sure was for THOSE guys…
https://ww2db.com/ship_spec.php?ship_id=C44
…by the way, recommend that movie. No big anime eyes, no panties, no monsters. Just a tragic story of the collateral damage of an ill-undertaken war, with NO preacy message or war guilt, just great animation, factual battles, and you WILL cry at the end…
https://youtu.be/4vPeTSRd580
Somewhat related, the awesome remake of “Midway” comes out in a couple of weeks;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_84EimN2HCg
I am so jacked.
From SNS: “(and how sweet would an artillery duel of Iowa class vs. Yamoto class, 18″ vs. 16″ would have been!”
No, nothing sweet, nothing noble, no glory. Death, pain, agony, and loss. For the participants, war is hell. It kills bodies and souls.
The spectators invent laurels and awards. The participants are puzzled why they do. Look into the faces of those brought forward to have a medal draped upon them. They know, they know, no one there knows the horror.
I’ll speak no more on this, lest I dishonor those have brought me into their thoughts as they were ‘honored’.
Major Salute to some very young, brave, and somewhat scared, and yes very young sailors.
Your service and actions will never be forgotten…thanks to the net…
That said I stray away from descriptions with the adjectives, as in finest? The US Navy had many FINE moments since it’s inception.
Paging Admiral Farragut.
We buried our last WWII combat vet at my church this year; he was on the USS Shaw, and he was there.
I was pleased to become his friend these past ten years. TOUGHEST man I have ever known.
If you are ever in New Orleans go see the WWII museum.
They have exhibits covering just about every major part of the war, including this battle.
My daddy was in the Battle Off Samar aboard the Carrier Vessel Escort USS Kadashan Bay (CVE-76, “The Spirit of 76”) which supported Taffy 3. http://www.hullnumber.com/CVE-76
Like most WWII vets, Daddy, who passed away 13 years ago, didn’t talk much about it. These men carried within them for the rest of their lives the horrors of battle. We were a united country back then and so many gave their lives for America and liberty. I am greatly humbled by the sacrifices made and more grateful than I can express for the courage and determination these men showed to be victorious. But I’m also ashamed that it seems so many have forgotten what made this country great or have never learned about it to begin with. God help us.
Thank you, Daddy.
Years back, I met a man who was an anti-aircraft gunner aboard the USS Laffey. He was a natural born story teller and I thought I was there with him as he relived that place in time firing at the Jap Kamakazi planes. Google the USS Laffey and read about it’s time off Okinawa. Incredible!
…all men die, @Lowell, whether at pain or at peace.
…I hope I am lucky enough to yet die quickly and honorably, fighting for what I believe to be a just cause.
How much better that, than falling apart piece by piece, failure by failure, until you lie witlees and unmanned in a soiled bed, unable to control even your own bowels and bladder, warehoused unwanted and unloved until Death mercifully ends your pointless existance, with even your organs of no use to anyone.
How much better than being racked with the agony of cancer, sapping your body and withering your limbs, causing howling detonations of diarrhea and forcing your loved ones to be your caretaker even as you are no longer able to support them, but drag them down, draining all their financial resources in a futile effort to stave off your inevitible end, leaving them paupers when you at last die screaming.
How much better than to die of a cirrotic liver, holed through and no longer able to detoxify your blood as you slip towards insanity in your rapidly shriveling, jaundiced body as attendants whisper behind their hands how you did it to yourself as your nearest and dearest sign your DNR so they can be quit of you.
How much better than being torn to pieces after being struck by a drunk driver, and find out as you’re being ambulanced off that some of the blood on you is from your now-deceased 10 year old
Don’t lecture me on death and endings. I’ve walked with Death, fought Death, seen Death in the eyes of strangers and in the eyes of my own kin, and every form of Death I mention above, and much more and worse, I have seen up close and personal, undisgised by the bandages of the hospital or the calm words of a preacher over a drained, posed, odorless body.
Ever seen a teenage suicide attempt reconcile with her family and be all happy and stuff, only to be told that the Tylenol had, in fact, irrevocably killed her so the only “living” she gets to do is help plan her own funeral?
I have.
Ever seen a baby that was held in a car by its mother in a high-speed accident have its bowels squeezed out its ass when it became an airbag for the mother, and have to perform CPR on this obvious corpse all the way to the hospital so the mother doesn’t go crazy?
I have.
…I’ve seen Death arrive in a flash of gunsmoke and a roar of a suddenly collapsed roof before, too. People who died so quickly they didn’t even bleed because they were already dead when they received deep wounds.
Given a choice between a quick and honorable death by going down literally fighting to win freedom and peace for those I leave behind, and slowly rotting to death in a befouled bed in a nursing home, I will choose the former every time.
My dearest wish is that we have the inevitable Civil War while I can still wield a weapon and take a few with me before I fall.
At least I’ll have done something noble, and not died a stupid, lonely, mindless death that way.
They died buying life for others.
…what will YOU die for, @Lowell?
…I wonder…
“In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me:
As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free;
While God is marching on.…”
-Excerpt from”Battle Hymn of the Republic”
…also, @Lowell, the Yamoto DID survive that day, retreating in confusion and cowardice, only to die shortly thereafter when even the suicide mission that was to be their last, failed utterly and they were hammered from above until it rolled over and foundered, discharging its final salvo at nothing.
Those men were dead either way.
Given the Japanese fighting spirit, they would very likely had preferred to go out duking with the Missouri than rolling over like a punk to a swarm of aircraft they couldnt even hit effectively…
For Supernightshade, The Battle Hymn of the Republic:
TRUMP style.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ai3_pTg560U
And, given the opportunity, it’s the liberal, commie, assholes, right here in America that clamor for the ‘right’ to tell you/me how we should live or die.
the Yamato turned tail and ran, believing the DE’s and D’s were battleships while the jeeps poured on the oil trying to get away under the smoke screens of the DE’s.
I think this was the only engagement the Yamato was in where she fired her guns. A miserable ending for the largest BB in the world.
Prove me wrong?
I was in the USN six years. The last 4 on a submarine. But between schools in the first 2 years I was on DDG35 for six months.
I don’t know if this story is true, but a guy in my division named Dan, told me his father was on a destroyer in the Pacific during WW2, and he was constantly at sea for 11 months, never setting foot on land. And only then it was only for an afternoon on some small island where the crew were allowed to go ashore for some R&R. (half the crew ashore in the morning the other half in the afternoon)
Then back to sea constantly for another 5 months, until his ship was heavily damaged in some battle and had to go to Australia for repairs which took several months before ship and crew were ready to return to sea. Must have been a lot of damage.
Anyway, tough dedicated men. But I must say, the more history I read about major battles that were major turning points to victory. The more it seems there was a divine hand in the outcome. It just often seemed the good timing in our favor, and the poor timing of changes of the enemy, was due to more than bravery and well trained crews alone. The Battle of Midway and the aircraft carriers not being in port in Pearl Harbor during the Japanese attack comes to mind. And sometimes we earned great victories even after making large tactical errors. David and Goliath type victories.
Destroyers were the Navy’s attack dogs – sent out to maybe damage an opponent and draw them out prior to having the big guys blow them up with guns, If you served on a destroyer ((2 over a period of 4 years with 3 deployments and an around-the-worlder trip) you knew 2 things — how to eat your greasy porkchops for breakfast and how to bend over and kiss your ass goodbye when the time comes.
Nothing like a good fast ship, good buddies, and seeing the roll meter hit 30-35 degrees during hurricanes and typhoons. Sea spray in face while using the sea urinals and salt-water baths sometimes.
It’s a hard life compared to the luxury of a carrier (3 tiered bunks with 50 guys sleeping in a hole with cockroaches so big they got names).
Nothing glamorous except knowing the joy of a shit-together ship.
The only glory comes after it’s over and you think back on what you’ve accomplished despite the bull shit and the goat locker and the lifers.
You grow-up and go on to be a combination of Supernightshade and Lowell knowing you’ll come threw when the course becomes hazardous because you’ve been there before.
Good times … good times.
I was standing with Sprague on the bridge of the Fanshaw Bay when the whole shebang started. Japs from the south and from the west. Those from the north were the decoys who confounded Halsey. I warned him – Halsey, that is. I had earlier warned Kurita that his mission was born to fail, but he wouldn’t listen, either. So I told Sprague to buck up! “Grow a spine!” I cried, for all I was worth! After I grabbed him by the collar and gave him a slap he straitened up. It was like that time in Bosnia, when I was under sniper fire with all those big honchos – they were whining like bitches and soiling themselves – till they saw my manly example.
It’s tough being a sex symbol AND an heroic icon, let me tell you!
The older I get the more prouder I am of my service in the Navy from 1972-1975 at the end of the Vietnam War. What those sailors went thru was everything compared to what we did. Thank you and all the men of those tin cans for their bravery and gallantry during the Battle Of The Leyte Gulf. And may God continue to bless the US Navy and all the sailors both men and women at sea wherever they are in the mighty oceans of the World. And I’m definitely in to see the new movie about the Battle of Midway. I’ve been thru the Leyte Gulf on our way to the Philippines more than once.