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00:30And now, the battle for Lady Gough.
00:59Across the restless wilderness of water that is Pacific and name only, the United States
01:10Navy orders Halsey's Third Fleet and Kincaid's Seventh Fleet to the Philippines.
01:15Sailing over the Mindanao Deep and into Lady Gough, Allied soldiers and sailors come to
01:19answer the prayers of those who marched their way to death on Bataan two and a half years
01:23earlier.
01:24It is October, 1944.
01:51The liberation of the Philippines will start with the island of Lady.
01:54Seize the beaches, establish a base, six simple words on which hangs the destiny of the Western
02:01Pacific.
02:08132,000 troops, 200,000 tons of material, 750 transports and landing craft, for the
02:28GIs, Lady Gough is all out war, for the Japanese, Lady Gough is the most tempting target ever
02:36offered.
02:48And the Japanese know it.
02:49They have long been waiting for the Allies to get out on a limb.
02:53They have long had a plan to cut off the limb.
02:56Down from the north, up from the south, in from the west, the Imperial Japanese Navy
03:01converges with three powerful forces to perform the surgery at Lady Gough.
03:19The entire remaining naval strength of Japan is mustered for one final, supreme battle.
03:25Loss of the Philippines will tear the Japanese Empire in two, cutting off the home islands
03:29from the oil, the resources, the wealth of the Indies and Southeast Asia, fatally crippling
03:35Japan's ability to wage war.
03:37The Lady landings must be destroyed if Japan is to survive.
03:42The naval high command confesses, we are about to fight a battle that will decide the fate
03:46of our empire.
03:47The mission of our naval forces is truly great.
04:08Steady attrition has undermined the once superb Imperial Japanese Navy, but what the sailors
04:13now lack is a plant with courage sired out of desperation.
04:34Identify these ships.
04:35United States battleship, Maryland class.
04:36United States battleship, Maryland class.
04:37United States battleship, Oklahoma class.
04:54The American submarines, Darter and Dace, are stationed west of the Philippines.
05:00Three days after the Allied landings at Lady Gough, they discover part of the converging
05:04Japanese Navy.
05:05They attack, sink two cruisers, and send the enemy's course and speed to Halsey and Kincaid.
05:11Darter is lost, but the Americans are alerted.
05:25Intelligence from the submarines is analyzed and plotted aboard Admiral Halsey's flagship.
05:30The Third Fleet prepares its opening move in what is to be the greatest naval battle
05:34in all history.
05:35Halsey orders out his search planes, orders them to pinpoint the Japanese.
06:06Halsey's scouts find the Japanese central course in the Sibuyan Sea, headed east toward
06:15San Bernardino Strait.
06:17The enemy plans to sail through the strait and then set a southerly course for Lady Gough,
06:22a southerly course for slaughter.
06:32From the flagship to all carriers, strike, repeat, strike, good luck.
06:59The Japanese Navy can count on no help from its pilots and planes, all but destroyed in
07:27earlier battles.
07:28So anti-aircraft measures have been intensified in the hope the ships by themselves can beat
07:33off the Americans.
07:34The sailors prepare to throw up a wall of fire around their tassel.
07:58Six slashing attacks concentrate on the 63,000-ton battleship Musashi.
08:09Hit after hit is scored.
08:12Thirty-one torpedoes find their mark.
08:42The giant Musashi becomes the first Japanese battleship sunk entirely by aircraft.
08:57Other ships are damaged.
09:00The Japanese central force pauses and turns back.
09:03It has been battered, mauled, wounded, but it has not been destroyed.
09:25In the meantime, the Japanese southern force, in battle array and with all boilers lighted
09:30rips into the Mindanao Sea toward Surigao Strait, leading directly to Leyte Gulf from
09:34the southeast.
09:36Battleships, cruisers, destroyers lunge through the narrow waters, hoping to force the strait
09:41open and join up with the central force in the twin annihilation of the United States
09:45Army and Navy.
09:47But the jaws of an American trap are open.
10:01American men of war, alerted to the Japanese approach, race to put a stopper in the bottleneck
10:20of Surigao Strait.
10:21Admiral Kincaid stops the bottleneck with PT boats, destroyers, cruisers, and battleships.
10:32American and Australian ships and sailors comprise a floating dam across the strait,
10:37strong in firepower, strong in determination to hold.
10:41The admiral orders positions taken.
10:56PT boats, trained to attack anything afloat, with no defense but speed, skill, daring,
11:02patrol the southern end of Surigao Strait.
11:05In the fore of the battle line, these fragile sentinels prepare to draw the first blood.
11:22Behind the PT patrol is the destroyer picket line.
11:25Behind the destroyers are the cruisers, and behind the cruisers, the battleships.
11:30All hands are quiet, tense, waiting.
12:00The Japanese hurl themselves headlong through the dark, into the trap.
12:19Midnight, October 24th.
12:23Inside the Japanese force, detection gear picks up their enemy.
12:27Suddenly, brilliant, searchlights dispel the night.
12:32The Battle of Surigao Strait is on.
12:41The PT sailors let go all torpedoes in their savage attack, throwing the enemy off balance.
12:51The PTs have done their job.
12:58Located the enemy, attacked the enemy, betrayed the enemy to the bigger boys.
13:04Now destroyers, cruisers, battleships, all in position, all in battle stations,
13:09take up the fight.
13:11The Japanese are in the trap, and the jaws close.
13:21Old battleships that arose from the muck and humiliation of Pearl Harbor.
13:43California, West Virginia, Tennessee, Maryland, deliver salvo after salvo.
13:51With the Japanese under their guns, the old battleships take their vengeance in Surigao Strait.
14:00The debris of Japanese disaster litters mile after mile of Surigao Strait.
14:22More than 5,000 Japanese sailors are wounded, missing, dead.
14:26The survivors, fanatical to the last, refuse to be rescued.
14:32The Japanese Southern Force is destroyed.
14:40But there is no time for celebration.
14:42To the north, San Bernardino Strait, unguarded, open waterway leading to the approaches of Lady Gulf.
14:49Through this passage, the Japanese Central Force of battleships, cruisers, and artillery
14:54The Central Force of battleships, cruisers, destroyers, steams at 20 knots.
14:59This is the force that was turned back.
15:02But if it could turn once, it could turn again.
15:05And the turn it has, toward Leyte.
15:16Only light American units, small escort carriers, destroyers, guard this approach to Leyte Gulf.
15:22The onrushing Japanese are first sighted by surprised, horrified search planes from the escort carriers.
15:29Should these 22 enemy ships break through, they will turn the Leyte landings into bloody shambles.
15:45Orders go out to the thin line of destroyers.
15:48Attack. Hit the cruisers. Block the battleships.
15:52These sailors sacrifice themselves for Leyte, and the battle of Samar.
15:57The Japanese force includes the largest warship ever built, the Yamato, mounting the biggest guns afloat.
16:25Open fire, orders the Japanese admiral,
16:28letting the feeble defenders feel the full sting of the Imperial Navy.
16:45Barrage after barrage straddles the escort carriers, protected only by the intrepid destroyers.
16:55Destroyers lay screens of real and chemical smoke between the escort carriers and the enemy,
17:12then bore in to deliver a furious torpedo attack.
17:15One of the most frantic, desperate actions of the war it's seen.
17:25Every plane that can get off the escort carriers joins the unequal battle.
17:38Trained only for support of ground troops,
17:40the jeep pilots hit the Japanese with what they can, with all they have.
17:55The Japanese keep pounding away, smashing the reeling escorts, the dauntless destroyers.
18:14But the reckless American attack continues, scattering and confusing the Japanese.
18:26Suddenly, the Japanese make an incredible decision.
18:30With parting salvos, they break off the fight. They turn back, this time for good.
18:37Five American ships, Gambier Bay, St. Lowe, Johnston, Hove, Roberts, Sondheim, 2,800 casualties.
18:51Meanwhile, far to the north, off Cape Nganyo, the third Japanese force is discovered.
18:58A force that answers the question the Americans have been asking since the start of the battle for Leyte Gulf.
19:02Where are the carriers?
19:07The Japanese northern force includes four carriers, as well as battleships, cruisers, destroyers.
19:13Steaming on a southerly course, the carriers are the final threat to Leyte Gulf.
19:32But the task of the northern force is suicidal. It is to act as decoy, to lure Halsey's third fleet
19:39away from Leyte Gulf, while the central and southern forces drive the Americans out of
19:43the Philippines. The Japanese are hopelessly outclassed, short on training, short of planes.
19:50We will be sunk, their admiral admits. That is our mission.
20:09Radio silence is deliberately broken to betray position.
20:12The dummy messages are intercepted by Halsey's radio men. The admiral is confronted with a tough
20:24problem. Should he stay at Leyte or sink the Japanese carriers?
20:30Regarding his mission to be offensive rather than defensive, he orders the third fleet north.
20:42The first strike, 55 torpedo planes, 60 fighters, 65 dive bombers.
21:42The Japanese maneuver to receive the assault with massed, intense anti-aircraft fire.
22:43Japanese land-based bombers from Luzon, Halsey's ships are the target.
22:56A
23:05few Japanese attackers break through, but a single bomber finds its single mark with a single bomb.
23:18The light carrier prints. One hit is enough. Rescue efforts by the crew and first aid from
23:27the crews of Birmingham cannot prevent a fatal internal explosion.
23:48So
24:04the Japanese decoy has worked, but it avails them nothing. All three of their forces are butchered,
24:12beaten, broken. In four days of far-flung fighting, the Japanese lose three battleships,
24:18one large carrier, three light carriers, six heavy cruisers, four light cruisers, nine destroyers,
24:2726 of their finest ships. Japan ceases to be a naval power. That dream is over.
24:35The once magnificent Imperial fleet is no more. It dies in the battle for Lady Goth,
24:42and it dies in vain.
25:05So
25:25fleets are made by nations. Battles are won by men,
25:29but when battle is done, the young and brave sleep, heedless of their greatest victory at sea.