Posted on 04/02/2021 5:14:34 PM PDT by blueplum
The world's deepest known shipwreck, a World War II US Navy destroyer, has been fully mapped and filmed by a US-based crew.
The Johnston was captained by Cmdr. Ernest Evans, a Native American from Oklahoma. Along with two other US destroyers and four smaller destroyer escorts, Evans led the Johnston in attacking a far superior Japanese force ...
...After two-and-a-half hours of fighting, the Johnston was without power and surrounded by Japanese ships....
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
Those little tin cans were the bravest of the brave for the US Navy in WWII. There is no way to minimize the brass spheres it took for them to take on a far superior force in what was best described as a suicide mission.
The FACT that their attack was so fierce that it led the Japanese commander to assume he was being attacked by much larger force saved countless lives in what would have been one of our darkest days of WWII.
Amen.
Great book. “Admiral Halsey where are you? The world wonders.” Not as much as Taffy 3 though. Those tin can sailors were amazing and the little carriers’ air crews were too.
A very good depiction of the battle and the heroism of the Johnston and several other ships...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AdcvDiA3lE
A fifth ship from Taffy 3, the escort carrier USS St. Lo (CVE-63), was sunk in a kamikaze attack immediately following the Japanese withdrawal.
thank you! Reading the below, one can almost imagine the intensity of the battle:
“The hard-hit Johnston was also back in action. They faced not only a Japanese cruiser division, but also most of the Japanese destroyers. U.S. and Japanese ships zig-zagged, and exchanged intensive gunfire and torpedoes in the melee-like conditions. Johnston was still able to lay such a heavy fire on the Japanese cruisers Haguro and Tone that these reported her as a “heavy cruiser.”
I read this book 3 or 4 years ago and I’m still in awe of the courage of the men of Taffy 3. The Yamato alone weighed more than all 14 ships in Taffy 3. Incredible.
USS Johnston punched well above her weight class. What a captain, what a crew.
Strength 6 escort carriers (Taffy 3) + 4 battleships, 10 escort carriers (Taffy 1 6 heavy cruisers, and 2), 2 light cruisers, 3 destroyers, 11 destroyers, 4 destroyer escorts, 30 aircraft (in kamikaze ~400 aircraft from Taffy 1, 2, and 3 attack) Casualties and losses 2 escort carriers sunk 3 heavy cruisers sunk 2 destroyers sunk 3 heavy cruisers damaged 1 destroyer escort sunk 1 destroyer damaged 23 aircraft lost 52 aircraft 4 escort carriers damaged Number of dead or 1 destroyer damaged wounded unknown, but 2 destroyer escorts damaged possibly between 250 and 1,583 killed and missing 750, or more 913 wounded
Someone needs to do a serious movie about this fight.
bump
The Taffies were on the Japs like a pack of angry honey badgers.
What bullies fear most - the wrath of the righteous.
The first of them, produced by Lou Reda Productions and premiering on The History Channel on November 11, 2005, featured interviews with Hornfischer and veterans of the battle.
It was followed by an episode of Dogfights on the History Channel, titled "The Death of the Japanese Navy", premiering on December 29, 2006, which featured a sophisticated CGI rendition of the sea battle.
hanamizu posted this Youtube link [The Battle of Samar - Odds? What are those? - 42:08]:
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