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.
It’s true.
Jeep carriers were small, inexpensive to build, carriers which were constructed on the hulls of Liberty ships.
At least I think that is right.
Thanks.
my gramps was there on an aircraft carrier. our side. /s
I agree.
They did not just fight against overwhelming odds, they fought successfully. They also paid a high price for their victory.
“Jeep carriers’’ were smaller versions of what were called ‘’’fleet carriers’’. They were usually converted transport ships, lightly armored and with planes whose main job was anti-submarine warfare.
The last battleship to battleship fight.I was 11 years old when I saw a Comic Book about the Battle of Leyte Gulf, and I talked my dad, a veteran of the Marines in WW2 into buying it for me. (Dell Combat Number 24 1967) I was wild about battleships.
Is your dad still alive?
Boowhoknew
That was a very enjoyable lecture, btw.
The Japs were afraid of torpedoes and rightfully so.
Don’t know why. The Japs had an excellent torpedo called the “Long Lance’’.
I’ve “read up” on the battle and had first hand accounts of it from my FIL, who spent two days wounded in the water after being sunk by a Japanese battleship.
Anyhow, it may have been true in the case of the Johnston but was most assuredly not true in his case.
It’s hard to hit a destroyer with one in a pitched battle but a battleship is easier. .
Yeah, you’re right. The Japs just seemed to go all willy-nilly that October day. Instead of attacking in line Admiral Kurita ordered a general attack and the Japs seemed to stumble and weave about all over the ocean like Godzilla was chasing them and weren’t very effective.
He passed away in 2010. He enlisted in the Navy in 1940.
His first ship was USS Yorktown CV5. He was on her when she was sunk at Midway. He was reassigned to West Virginia. His first assignment on WEEVEE was to muck mud out of the engine rooms. He told me that during the course of the work they found 8 bodies of sailors killed when she was sunk.
She was raised off the Pearl Harbor bottom mid May of 42.
She was made sea worth and sailed for Bremeton Naval Ship Yard in mid May 1943. Modernization was completed in July 1944. She finished in the war anchored in Tokyo Bay a few hundred yard from the USS Missouri during Jap surrender ceremony.
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.