Summary

The Battle of Surigao Strait

As ships of Nishimura’s C Force entered Surigao Strait at 10:36 p.m, they encountered the beginning of Admiral Olendorf’s trap - PT boats. These small boats harassed the Japanese force, while radioing Olendorf about the Japanese’s entry into the strait. Ultimately, the PT boats had no effect.

After the PT boats, C Force encountered Destroyer Squadron 54, under Captain Jesse Coward. Coward split his force, with the destroyers Melvin, McGowan, and Remy attacking from the East, and Monssen and McDermut attacking from the West. Once close enough, Coward ordered his destroyers to launch torpedoes, with twenty seven torpedoes heading toward the Japanese forces. Fuso was hit by this salvo and would later sink, but McDermut and Monssen were still closing. Once within range, they launched twenty torpedoes, and Nishimura took evasive action. The torpedoes from McDermut hit the destroyers Yamagumo, Michishio, and Asagumo. Of these, Yamagumo exploded and sank, Michishio was heavily damaged and sank a little later, and Asagumo lost her bow but continued going. Monssen hit the battleship Yamashiro damaging but not destroying it.

Then it was Destroyer Squadron 24’s turn. Captain K.M. McManes also decided to split his forces in two, with Hutchins, Daly, and Bache in one section and Killen, Beale, and HMAS Arunta in the other. The light from the explosion and fires aboard the Yamagumo gave a great target for the second group of destroyers’ torpedoes. Despite this, their accuracy was terrible, making one hit out of fourteen, on the Yamashiro. This knocked the ship down to five knots, but not for long. The battleship continued down the strait. Hutchins, Daly, and Bache launched fifteen torpedoes at Nishimura’s now shoddy column. In fact, Nishimura now only had Yamashiro, Shigure, and Mogami, Shigure and Mogami being undamaged. His other ships were adrift in the currents or retreating. Hutchins, Daly, and Bache opened fire with their five inch guns, and the Japanese returned fire, but not much came of the firefight.

Meanwhile, Fuso’s damage control team was struggling to contain the fires from Melvin’s torpedo hit. The fires spread to the ship’s magazine, and she exploded and split in two. McCanes began to withdraw, but first Hutchins launched five torpedoes at Asagumo. None hit their target, but one hit Michishio which blew up and exploded instantly. None of the American destroyers suffered losses.

While destroyer squadrons 54 and 24 had decided to split up into two groups, Destroyer Squadron 56 had split up into three. Bryant, Hartford, and Robinson were the first to make contact with the Japanese heading north through the strait, and all of their torpedoes missed. Bennion, Leutze, and Heywood L. Edwards were next, and the Japanese fired on them. Neither side scored hits. Albert W. Grant, Richard P. Leary, and Newcomb were up last, and two torpedoes from Newcomb hit Yamashiro.

By now, Olendorf’s main battle line was in range of Force C, and he ordered them to open fire. At this time in the war, many ships were equipped with the Mk. 8 fire control radar. This allowed the battleships Tennessee, West Virginia, and California to hit the Japanese ships on their first salvo. Another huge advantage the Americans had was that they were “crossing the Japaneses' ‘t’. This means that the Japanese ships were steaming directly towards the American line, and could not use their rear turrets. However, the Americans were on a perpendicular course to the Japanese, and were able to use all of their guns.

The Japanese did not even have fire control radar, meaning that Yamasiro was only able to fire at the cruisers on the battle line’s left flank, and without hitting much. The Americans, however, rained down shells on the three Japanese ships. The battleships hurled two hundred eighty five rounds of armour piercing ammunition at the Japanese, in sixteen inch and fourteen inch calibers. The cruisers shot one thousand, one hundred, and forty seven rounds at the sad Japanese column.

The battle line was showering the Japanese with shells, but some parts of Destroyer squadron 56 were still downrange. Albert W. Grant was hit by not only Japanese shells, but American ones as well. Thirty four men on the ship died, with ninety four men being wounded. The ship’s captain even pulled men out of the flooding engine room. Dead in the water, Newcomb had to tow her out of the way.

Admiral Olendorf immediately ordered a cease fire until Albert W. Grant could be cleared from the strait. Yamashiro and the battle line began to retreat. While the exact number of shells that hit Yamashiro is not known, it was certainly enough to cause the ship to roll over and take Nishimura and most of her crew with her. Mogami was luckier, but she still suffered. The Americans targeted the ship next, and Mogami’s bridge was taken out. She launched torpedoes, likely to prevent them from exploding. These torpedoes still made the battle line scramble though.

By this time, Shima’s force was starting to enter the strait. They were immediately harassed by PT boats, and the cruiser Abakuma was hit. She slowed to ten knots. Shima continued though, and eventually spotted the two halves of the wreck of the Fuso, both on fire. Shima, not having any communication with Nishimura since Force C encountered the PT boats, assumed that the two wrecked halves were the Fuso and Yamashiro, and steamed north to help. A while later, his radar reported two contacts, and he launched torpedoes. They were just two islands.

Shima then decided to retreat. On his way out, his flagship, Nachi, collided with the bridgeless Mogami. Nachi lost some of her port bow, and Mogami joined up with Shima’s fleet. Shigure also joined up with the fleet. Later, five American ships encountered Asagumo in the strait, and sank her.

Later, fighter-bombers caught up with the Second Attack Force, and bombed Mogami. This left her dead in the water, and she was scuttled. Abakumo and Nachi would also be sunk.