The Japanese Navy launched another of its typically complicated operations, ‘Sho-1’, to oppose the landings by sending three forces to the battle. The Centre and Southern Forces were two sides of a pincer attack through the northern and southern approaches to Leyte; and the Northern Force, consisting of the remaining aircraft carriers, with freshly trained aircrews, would serve as a decoy to lure Admiral Halsey’s Third Fleet away from the Leyte invasion force. This sacrifice of Japan’s last carriers would allow the surface combatant-based Centre and Southern Forces to complete their missions.
The complete picture of this epic Pacific clash is fascinating to study but beyond the reach of this article. There are examples of submarine attacks and reconnaissance, air strikes, PT boat attacks at night, battleships exchanging broadsides, desperate destroyer torpedo runs against cruisers and battleships, and the first deployment of the kamikaze tactic. One of the most remarkable events during the largest naval battle in history occurred when Centre Force, led by Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita, emerged from San
