Battle of Leyte Gulf 1944
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Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 23 October 1944 – 26 October 1944 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1944 | Wikidata P580 (start 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 | Pacific War, World War II | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Empire of Japan, United States | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 10.3700, 125.3550 | 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
- Battle of Leyte 1944 · 97 km
- Battle of Camotes Islands 1945 · 104 km
- Battle of Ormoc Bay 1944 · 109 km
- Battle of Mactan 1521 · 147 km
- Battle off Samar 1944 · 178 km
- Siege of Catubig 1900 · 228 km
Other battles of the World War II
- New Georgia campaign 1943
- Operation Garlic 1943
- Siege of Turjak 1943
- Smolensk operation 1943
- Third Battle of Kharkov 1943
- Action of 14 February 1944 1944
- Action of 17 July 1944 1944
- Air battle over the Ore Mountains 1944
- Allied siege of La Rochelle 1944
- Battle for Hill 140 1944
All 178 battles of the World War II →
Browse more: battles at sea · Asia · World War II era battles