Battle off Samar 1944
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 25 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 |
| Coordinates | 11.6000, 126.4000 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle off Samar was the centermost action of the Battle of Leyte Gulf, one of the largest naval battles in history, which took place in the Philippine Sea off Samar Island, in the Philippines on October 25, 1944. It was the only major action in the larger battle in which the Americans were largely unprepared. After the previous day's fighting, the Imperial Japanese Navy's First Mobile Striking Force, under the command of Takeo Kurita, had suffered significant damage and appeared to be retreating westward. However, by the next morning, the Japanese force had turned around and resumed its advance toward Leyte Gulf. With Admiral William Halsey Jr. lured into taking his powerful Third Fleet north after a decoy fleet and the Seventh Fleet engaged to the south, the recently landed 130,000 men of the Sixth Army were left vulnerable to Japanese attack on Leyte.
Kurita, aboard the Japanese battleship Yamato, took his large force of battleships, cruisers and destroyers from the San Bernardino Strait and headed south toward Leyte, where they encountered Task Unit 77.4.3 ("Taffy 3"), the northernmost of the three escort carrier groups under Rear Admiral Clifton Sprague that comprised the only American forces remaining in the area.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle off Samar (revision 1374807474), 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 · 159 km
- Siege of Catubig 1900 · 172 km
- Battle of Leyte Gulf 1944 · 178 km
- Battle of Ormoc Bay 1944 · 210 km
- Battle of Camotes Islands 1945 · 237 km
- Battle of Mactan 1521 · 297 km
Other battles of the Battle of Leyte Gulf
- Battle of Leyte Gulf 1944
Browse more: battles at sea · Asia · World War II era battles