Thanks Constitution Day.
Posted on 10/31/2019 8:26:12 AM PDT by Constitution Day
i used to know a ww-ii vet who was at Leyte. when he told the story of the Johnston’s charge, it brought tears to his eyes - the bravery, and the heart of those brave men. the way he told it, it was very stirring. they all thought they were goners.
“Sad to see where so many good men lost their lives there. Seems to have been severely damaged.”
Shot up like a beer can used for a target. One thing that wormed in their favor was that the enemy ships were prepared to fight much heavily armoured ships. Many of the shells went clear through without detonating.
I liked Herman Wouk’s assessment of Halsey in “War and Remembrance.” Yes, Halsey made many blunders. But when he took over the Fleet in 1942 his leadership reversed an atmosphere of defeatism that had overtaken the Pacific Fleet. Sometimes you need someone who will raise the Flag and charge at the enemy.
Baloney. He was a hunter and was being aggressive. Standing by off the beach makes carriers great sub targets. Armchair admirals expect things to always go their way... they don’t in real life.
If you wanna go a level deeper, we shouldn’t habe been landing there at all. We only did because MacArthur prevailed on FDR that we had to go back. The Nimitz plan would have bypassed PI and ended the war much faster.
Thanks Constitution Day.
Exactly... the Germans as well. Always looking for a wonder weapon that would save them.
The V2 is an example. The Germans spent the money of the Manhattan project and produced the bombs on target of exactly 2 eighth air force raids. And it killed more people in production than in use.
Magical thinking.
[snip] According to a 2011 BBC documentary,[6] the attacks from V-2s resulted in the deaths of an estimated 9,000 civilians and military personnel, and a further 12,000 forced laborers and concentration camp prisoners died as a result of their forced participation in the production of the weapons. [/snip]
(from wikipedia)
Thanks! I will check it out.
Yes, sadly he did, he fell for the bait and neglected to guard the henhouse door.
Funny thing, hindsight and all that, but he could have easily split the 3rd fleet into two smaller groups and mopped everything up. The US fleet at that point being easily more than twice as powerful as what the Japanese had left.
But again, (sigh) hindsight.
Halsey job was to protect the landing at Leyte, period. He went haring off to attack a Japanese fleet which had little offensive capability because he wanted his own Midway type victory. I would have taken two stars and transferred him to the Alaska naval district.
I have a soft spot for destroyers. I served on the USS Henry W Tucker DD875 from 1969-1971 after my tour in Vietnam. Destroyers get more liberty stops than larger ships, which is a nice perk.
In WW2 destroyers were armed with the most deadly antiship weapons of the time, torpedoes. A Fletcher class carried 10. More than enough to take out a capital ship. Or two.
They were also handy at shore bombardment. There are many instances where destroyer captains brought their ships perilously close in and supported the troops with accurate 5” gunfire via radio. The Tarawa invasion might have failed without that support since the flat shooting 16” battleship rounds largely just skimmed over the island. It took a while for the battleships to figure out plunging fire. A few destroyers went in and took out pillboxes and such. One round took out the Japanese commander and his team. 5” high velocity rounds are very nasty.
I’ve always had mixed emotions about that battle.
On the one hand, amazing bravery and courage.
On the other, as a Marine, it made it somewhat difficult to give squids a hard time for being squids.
Thanks for the ping. I second the recommendation for the Last Stand book. The courage of those men is astounding. They didn’t flinch from a fight in which they knew most of them were doomed.
LOL! Good one.
*** “I have a soft spot for destroyers. I served on the USS Henry W Tucker DD875 from 1969-1971 after my tour in Vietnam. Destroyers get more liberty stops than larger ships, which is a nice perk” ***
For me it was the USS George K. Mackenzie DD 836, ‘73- until it was Decommissioned in ‘76 ... another perk besides Liberty Ports is that you know everyone on-board (unlike the 2 Carriers I served on later)
One of the most spectacular feats of US naval daring, skill and courage in WW2. Captain Evans and his crew fought an heroic “David and Goliath’’ battle against superior Japanese forces and inflicted heavy damage before being forced to with draw.
The action off of Samar Island by the sailors of Taffy 3, commanded by Adm. Clifton Sprague, was the most heroic action in the history of the US Navy, indeed among the greatest in the whole history of the US Armed Forces.
In particular, the actions of the USS Johnston, and it’s CO, Commander Evans, almost beggar belief when you consider the power of the mighty Japanese force arrayed against the destroyer and destroyer escort screen of Task Unit 77.4.3. They did not hesitate for a second when ordered by Adm. Sprague to counterattack and run cover for the Task Unit.
I believe that just one of the battleship Yamato’s turrets weighed more than all of Fletcher class destroyers in that action.
My favorite line from this fight came from an anonymous AA gunner on one of the slow little escort carriers being pursued by fast Japaneses heavy cruisers was emblematic of their dogged courage; “We’re luring them into 40mm range!!!”
That same maneuverability also broke the stalemate at Omaha Beach.
Kurita was a bit more pragmatic than some, such as Admiral Ugaki...shortly before his death Kurita privately admitted to a friend that he had turned the fleet and withdrawn on purpose. He knew they were finished, and the future of Japan depended on the young men aboard his ships.
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