Battle of Leyte Gulf 1944
_burning_on_24_October_1944_(80-G-287970).jpg){kind=link}
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 24 October 1944 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1944 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | World War II era (1939–1945) | derived from year |
| Nearest landmass | At sea (nearest continent: Asia) | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Asia | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Battle of Leyte Gulf | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Empire of Japan, United States | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 12.7500, 122.5000 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Leyte Gulf (23–26 October 1944) was the largest naval battle of World War II and by some criteria the largest naval battle in history, with over 200,000 naval personnel involved.
By late 1944, the Japanese fleet had become much weaker than that of the Allied forces; it contained fewer capital ships (aircraft carriers and battleships) than the Allies had aircraft carriers in the Pacific. After the catastrophic Battle of the Philippine Sea in June 1944, senior Japanese military leaders understood that their remaining naval forces were incapable of achieving a strategic victory against the Allies. However, the Japanese general staff believed that continuing to contest Allied offensives at sea was necessary to deter an invasion of mainland Japan and to give the Japanese navy an opportunity to use its remaining strength. As a result, the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) mobilized nearly all of its remaining major naval vessels in an attempt to repel the Allied invasion of the Philippines, but it was defeated by the U.S. Navy's Third and Seventh Fleets.
The battle consisted of four main engagements (the Battle of the Sibuyan Sea, the Battle of Surigao Strait, the Battle off Cape Engaño, and the Battle off Samar) and several lesser actions.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Leyte Gulf (revision 1377054735), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Siege of Masbate 1898 · 129 km
- Battle of Alapan 1898 · 252 km
- Battle of Zapote Bridge (1897) 1897 · 253 km
- Battle of Zapote River 1899 · 253 km
- Battle of Manila Bay 1898 · 257 km
- Battle of Manila (1898) 1898 · 260 km
Other battles of the Battle of Leyte Gulf
- Battle off Samar 1944
Browse more: battles at sea · Asia · World War II era battles