Getting Ahead of Ourselves: A B-29 TL

[Parmenion]

As the strike on Formosa concluded, Halsey had his second strike take off, this one pointed at Okinawa. 320 planes were given orders to destroy as many aircraft on the island as possible. As General Ando's strike force approached the carriers, it was forced to fight both the large CAP defending them, and the fighters returning from the strike on Formosa. The force was a mixed group of aircraft, mostly Ki-21's and Ki-51's, with several other types thrown in .

As the force reached the outer destroyer screen, it was met by huge quantities of flak which added to the ever increasing loss rate. Furthermore, many of the Army pilots had no training in attacking ships, which made their aim worse than usual. Most of the attackers first hit a group of four light carriers at the vanguard of the fleet. Princeton was hit by two light bombs that jammed her elevator, and Independence was struck in her boilers by one, halving her speed. Two destroyers were sunk, as was the light cruiser Detriot. In exchange, the total number of operational aircraft on Taiwan was reduced to barely 200.

Meanwhile, Koga had ordered his own fighters to sortie South as soon as the Northern strike was spotted. Despite this, the Americans still reached Koga's attack force before Koga's fighters. Another running battle ensued, Jills and Judy's ans Betty's struggled to avoid the Hellcats. In their haste to attack the enemy bombers however, they had left their own bombers unprotected. A portion of the Zero's went after the bombers, while the more experienced pilots got ready to confront the Hellcats.

Saburo Sakai was among the fighters performing this task. He'd wanted a place on the carriers, but the brass had thought he'd be safer in a Shiden than a Zero. Sakai charged into action, using the speed and heavy guns of his George to great effect. While Sakai and the others were only able to save about two thirds of their bombers, they were able to incur more kills than they suffered. Perhaps the most impressive feat of Sakai came after these dogfights. Orders had come out telling pilots to crash into the enemy ships if they found themselves too damaged to return to base. Sakai managed to help ovee a dozen novice pilots back to Okinawa where he coached them into landing.

Okinawa's attack managed to find the Northwest portion of Halsey's fleet, composed of some of the escorts. Here some real damage was achieved, Tripoli and Wake Island were sunk, as were two destroyer escorts. Three more escort carriers were damaged punching a serious tear in Halsey's Northern flank. Casualties weren't as high at Okinawa, Koga still had 500 of the 900 planes he'd started with, plus the carriers. By now, Ugaki was just 250 miles from the center of the American fleet. Assuming he'd been spotted by now, Koga ordered Ozawa to begin moving south. What he didn't know was that in reality Ugaki wouldn't be spotted until two hours later, at 1400 on the 3rd.

 

[mattep74]

As the strike on Formosa concluded, Halsey had his second strike take off, this one pointed at Okinawa. 320 planes were given orders to destroy as many aircraft on the island as possible. As General Ando's strike force approached the carriers, it was forced to fight both the large CAP defending them, and the fighters returning from the strike on Formosa. The force was a mixed group of aircraft, mostly Ki-21's and Ki-51's, with several other types thrown in .

As the force reached the outer destroyer screen, it was met by huge quantities of flak which added to the ever increasing loss rate. Furthermore, many of the Army pilots had no training in attacking ships, which made their aim worse than usual. Most of the attackers first hit a group of four light carriers at the vanguard of the fleet. Princeton was hit by two light bombs that jammed her elevator, and Independence was struck in her boilers by one, halving her speed. Two destroyers were sunk, as was the light cruiser Detriot. In exchange, the total number of operational aircraft on Taiwan was reduced to barely 200.

Meanwhile, Koga had ordered his own fighters to sortie South as soon as the Northern strike was spotted. Despite this, the Americans still reached Koga's attack force before Koga's fighters. Another running battle ensued, Jills and Judy's ans Betty's struggled to avoid the Hellcats. In their haste to attack the enemy bombers however, they had left their own bombers unprotected. A portion of the Zero's went after the bombers, while the more experienced pilots got ready to confront the Hellcats.

Saburo Sakai was among the fighters performing this task. He'd wanted a place on the carriers, but the brass had thought he'd be safer in a Shiden than a Zero. Sakai charged into action, using the speed and heavy guns of his George to great effect. While Sakai and the others were only able to save about two thirds of their bombers, they were able to incur more kills than they suffered. Perhaps the most impressive feat of Sakai came after these dogfights. Orders had come out telling pilots to crash into the enemy ships if they found themselves too damaged to return to base. Sakai managed to help ovee a dozen novice pilots back to Okinawa where he coached them into landing.

Okinawa's attack managed to find the Northwest portion of Halsey's fleet, composed of some of the escorts. Here some real damage was achieved, Tripoli and Wake Island were sunk, as were two destroyer escorts. Three more escort carriers were damaged punching a serious tear in Halsey's Northern flank. Casualties weren't as high at Okinawa, Koga still had 500 of the 900 planes he'd started with, plus the carriers. By now, Ugaki was just 250 miles from the center of the American fleet. Assuming he'd been spotted by now, Koga ordered Ozawa to begin moving south. What he didn't know was that in reality Ugaki wouldn't be spotted until two hours later, at 1400 on the 3rd.

Oh. Battleship duel. Are we seeing the epic battle Yamamoto wanted?

 

[Parmenion]

Ugaki's charge was never expected to actually come into sight of the enemy. Instead, he was expected to attract the attention of a large enemy attack, and hope it caused some disruption. Whatever the case Halsey knew the existance of these ships, and now knew their location. At 1600 on the 3rd Halsey ordered a force of 280 aircraft to attack Ugaki. Most of these planes came from the fleet carriers, and had many experienced pilots among them.

After an hour of preparation and flight, and with Ukagi still 190 miles from the nearest enemy warship, the attack began. The fleet had been warned in time to launch its 44 Zero's, who were the only advance defence they had. The planes kept a tight perimeter around the fleet, waiting for the enemy fighters and bombers to seperate. As they finally did so the fighting was intense, the Zero's were outnumbered and outmatched, but made a nuisance of themselves. Avengers had to pull away from torpedo runs, Helldivers had to abort their dives. By the time it was over only four Zero's would return, but they had done their job.

While only 37 American planes were lost to flak and fighters, the damage they had done was disproportionately small. Ise had lost her flight deck, and heavy fires burned in the aft hanger. Thankfully these aviation facilities had protected her lower works, and her speed was unaffected. Hyuga had her forward turret knocked out, and her captain dead, but was still under control. Both Fuso's had been unscathed, aside from a many strafing runs which had mauled their crew on deck.

Halsey didn't learn until 1745 that the attack had failed to sink a single ship, which had surprised him, he had no other aircraft on standby. If he took the time to ready and launch another wave now, it would be dark by the time they returned. Halsey also had the problem of his Southern flank being undermanned, only four old battleships, two heavy cruisers, two light cruisers, and a dozen destroyers stood between Ugaki and Halsey's carriers. Halsey ordered Admiral Lee's battle fleet to swing South, along with most of the 3rd fleet. A night action was coming.

 

[generalurist]

Battlecarrier hybrids used properly, to the extent that anything involving those mermaids counts as proper use.

Are the yanks still that bad at night carrier landings? Seems we're about to have a "battle of the grandmas" among battleships. Which oldies does Halsey have?

 

[Parmenion]

Halsey had a few options in his mind when he realized Ugaki was coming. First, retreat. This would reauire leaving behind the escort carriers however, leaving tens if thousands of sailors and hundreds of aircraft to the enemy. He could stall and sail North, but doing that would put him dangerously close to Okinawa. No, Halsey decided, they would stand and fight. Oldendorf was ordered to form a line and prepare for battle.

While Oldendorf was sometimes painted as the underdog in this battle, the reality is not so clean cut. His battleships New Mexico, Idaho, California and Tennessee were potent ships, and while old, were fighting their peers. At dusk, a floatplane from Yahagi spotted Oldendorf's fleet, and the ships began to close. Ugaki's own ships formed a line, and the ships first sighted eachother at 2356.

While the IJN's night gunnery had been infamous two years prior, a lack of targets and time or fuel to train had taken their toll. Tennessee fired her first salvo at 0027, and the battle was on. The lines were almost perpendicular, Ugaki sailing East-Northeast to try to close the gap. At 0051 California scored the first hit on Fuso at 23,000 yards. Fuso was hit twice more, the hits wrecking her superstructure and causing heavy casualties. Ugaki ordered all ships to fire on the leading Tennessee finally managing his own first hit at 0110, which knocked out her radar, and several boilers. With the Japanese making 24 knots to the American 22, they began to pull ahead.

Idaho struck Hyuga twice at 0127, whose aviation fuel set much of her deck ablaze. At 0140 the Japanese had their best luck of the night, Ise and Yamashiro hit the now leading California three times in less than a minute, destroying her radar, disabling her two aft turrets, and temporarily causing her to lose rudder control. During this engagement the American destroyers had been trying to catch up, and were now close enough that Ugaki had to order his own escorts to engage them.

Outnumbered, Ugaki's destroyers and Yahagi put up a valiant fight, managing to sink Cony and Robinson and damage three other ships, at the loss of all but the light cruiser and two destroyers. With the attack repulsed Ukagi ordered the survivors to launch their own, which the American cruisers soundly defeated. The remaining destroyers were sunk and Yahagi was destroyed by submarine that morning.

With the range down to 17,000 yards the American gunnery improved. Fuso was crippled by a salvo from Tennessee at 0155, down but still in the fight. Hyuga was hit in the engine room at 0204 by Idaho the fires making damage control all but impossible. Ugaki saw that the battle was turning, and ordered a retreat. Fuso sank at 0324, taking Ukagi with her after being chased down by the enemy fleet. She was still able to cripple Portland and damage two destroyers with her secondary guns, before she rolled over and exploded. Yamashiro fought a running battle with California and New Mexico, hitting the latter twice before she was overwhelmed and blew up at 0440.

The battlecarriers seemed to have been more fortunate, but this would not last. At dawn Halsey had an already prepared strike force of 150 planes take their revenge on them. Hyuga was sunk by noon, but ise remarkably, was able to limp into Manilla on the evening of the 5th despite taking two torpedos and a bomb. Tennessee and California had to return to Ulithi for repair, the New Mexico and her sister remained on site.

 

[generalurist]

I guess night fighting skills don't mean much with the superior American radar. Cool to see an old-fashioned Battleship slugging, with some pearl harbor survivors even!

Wouldn't Tennessee losing "several boilers" leave her unable to keep up with the battle line though? 22 would be close to her top speed intact I think.

 

[Parmenion]

I guess night fighting skills don't mean much with the superior American radar. Cool to see an old-fashioned Battleship slugging, with some pearl harbor survivors even!

Wouldn't Tennessee losing "several boilers" leave her unable to keep up with the battle line though? 22 would be close to her top speed intact I think.

Yeah, but she was still keeping the chase and firing at long range, she would have had to drop out soon though.

 

[Parmenion]

By morning, the Combined fleet was less than 200 miles from the Northern flank of the 3rd Fleet. With his escort carriers already running South, Halsey put a massive strike force together. At 0900 the force of over 600 aircraft left to attack Ozawa. Ozawa had his own strike prepared, and at 0925 almost all of his 450 carrier planes took off. Their goalnwas both to defend his fleet, and to strike the Americans. The largest air battle of the Pacific theatre was about to begin.

Just 20 miles South of Kuritas fleet, almost 1100 aircraft crossed paths. Faced with the choice of either intercepting the Japanese, or defending their bombers, the Hellcats chose the latter, leaving the Japanese attack to Halsey's CAP. 300 Hellcats began to clash with 215 Zero's, a one sided engagement as expected. Still the Japanese surprised their foe, ignoring the fighters to attack the bombers. While not many of them were destroyed, many had to return after dropping their bombs and torpedos to evade the Zero's, or were too damaged to complete an attack. Still, over 450 planes decended on the Japanese fleet, the remaining Zero's still desperately trying to throw them off.

Halsey had given the Japanese carriers priority as usual, and soon they came under heavy assault. Taiho was hit by three 1,000 pound bombs, which were stopped by her armored flight deck, though one of the bombs sent splinters into the hanger, which in the words of one mechanic "Cleaved through half the crewmen like a massive shotgun." She was also hit by two torpedoes, whose flooding was stopped in her honeycomb interior. Shokaku was hit by three torpedoes in her starboard side, ironically helped being saved from sinking by a bomb that flooded her port side. Zuikaku was the only victim, hit in the stern by a torpedo, her propellers were mangled and her engine room flooded. A series of bombs set her hanger alight, and the ship was scuttled later that evening.

Unryu and Amagi both took a bomb, but were likely mistaken for light carriers and ignored. Chiyoda was hit by a torpedo, but also managed to stay operational. While the carriers were the primary target, about 200 planes could not resist a chance to attack the entirity of Japan's battle fleet. One airmen recalled "The Yamato looked like an erupting volcano. Flak seemed to ooze out of every crevice on that ship." Indeed the volume of fire was formidable, more than 1,500 25mm guns were firing, along with every caliber from 13mm to 18 inches. Avengers were for ed to abort runs as the five inch guns kicked up huge collumns of water. Dive bombers were blinded by hundreds of muzzle flashes from the determined crew. Still the aviators were undaunted, continuing to attack.

Yamato was hit by a torpedo and a bomb, which temporarily disabled her aft turret. Her sister took three bombs, which tore into her superstructure, but did not penatrate deep into the hull. Every battleship was hit, but most of them proved capable of still fighting. The only exception was Haruna whose engine room took two bombs and a torpedo, reducing her speed to 15 knots. The decks of the battleships were still stained red, the rocket and strafing runs devastating her gun crews. Kurita had accounted for this, learning from Iwo Jima that it was best to have spares. Each battleship carried up to 400 "Auxiliary gunners" whose actual task was to replace those who fell.

The Japanese strike manuvered around the escorts towards the core of the fleet, losing many planes to fighters and flak in the process. As they attacked, many sailors were horrified as the damaged planes careened into their ships rather than pull away. Bunker Hill was hit by both a torpedo, and the Jill that carried it, listing heavily as she was struck by a 500 pound bomb. While no fire was started, the bomb killed a number of damage control workers, further complicating her situation. Franklin took three bombs, a fire burning out her elevators and forcing her planes to relocate. Cowpens had her back broken by a Judy that never pulled out of its dive, sinking in just two hours. For this damage only, 80 aircraft returned to their carriers, as Halsey pondered his next move.

 

[Sport25ing]

With so many losses in the USN fighter side (not as colossal as the Japanese, but still), could we see the earlier introduction of the Bearcat, Tigercat and Super Corsair?

 

[Parmenion]

With so many losses in the USN fighter side (not as colossal as the Japanese, but still), could we see the earlier introduction of the Bearcat, Tigercat and Super Corsair?

Possibly.

 

[generalurist]

I'm confused by the air battle at the start of this chapter. Halsey sent out a little over 600 aircraft, of which 300 were hellcats that tangled with the zeros. But 450 planes descended on Japan- where did an extra 150 attack aircraft come from?

Japan ramping it up with the Kamikazes huh? Makes sense, they know this one is their last shot. But I don't expect the hit to Bunker Hill to seriously damage her damage control- USN doctrine was training all the sailors to help with damage control- in contrast to the IJN where you had a few trained specialists and the rest of the crew had no training.

 

[Parmenion]

I'm confused by the air battle at the start of this chapter. Halsey sent out a little over 600 aircraft, of which 300 were hellcats that tangled with the zeros. But 450 planes descended on Japan- where did an extra 150 attack aircraft come from?

Japan ramping it up with the Kamikazes huh? Makes sense, they know this one is their last shot. But I don't expect the hit to Bunker Hill to seriously damage her damage control- USN doctrine was training all the sailors to help with damage control- in contrast to the IJN where you had a few trained specialists and the rest of the crew had no training.

To be clear, the 450 that attacked the fleet includes fighters, they're the ones who strafed the ships. And we aren't quite to Kamikaze yet, we're at "If you land a damaged plane you have to buy it." so they're crashing if they get really messed up.

 

[farmerted555]

Wonder if the Red Army will reach Berlin?

 

[Parmenion]

As Halsey became aware of the damage to the Japanese fleet around noon, he was faced with a conundrum. While he had begun the battle with around 1,500 aircraft, losses, damage, and wounded pilots meant he was down to less than 800 operational planes. Moreover, these aircraft were scattered on dozens of different carriers, some operating in more damaged groups than others. Essentially Halsey had two options, he could launch another strike now with about 200 aircraft, or he could wait until the afternoon and launch a much larger attack with 600. He chose the former, partly due to fears of losing the daylight, but mostly due to not wanting Kurita to get any closer to his main body.

At 1330 Halsey's strike took off. With the distance between the fleets now quite small the, planes had some difficulty forming up before they arrived. Ozwa had just begun to turn his surviving carriers North, but nonetheless sent his remaining 30 Zero's to save Kurita. The battlefleet fratically prepared for another attack, sickbay's still clogged with the mangled gunners who had bore witness to the first. Some destroyers brought themselves dangerously close to the battleships to impede torpedo attacks.

Shortly thereafter the skies were filled with the sounds of engines once again. The hopelessly outnumbered Zero's resorted to ramming attacks, as other flew head-on with American bombers to force them to pull away. All the while the flak guns roared desperate to defend their ships. The destroyer tactic proved effective, though it cost them the Ume and most of her crew when an Avenger called her bluff. Amazingly one hit was scored on the Kongo when a torpedo bomber managed to squeeze between her and a destroyer barely 100 yards away, the torpedo nearly decapitating some of the destroyers gunners.

The dive bombers had better luck. Yamato had two guns on her forward turret disabled by a hit. Mutsu was destroyed in a spectacular explosion as a lucky angled hit detonated her magazine. Nagato suffered a serious fire when her floatplane fuel stores were hit. This was brought under control, but not before many crew members were burned or suffocated to death. The American force returned 30 planes lighter, and having reduced the fighter complement of the entire Combined Fleet to six damaged Zero's, but still the battle fleet posed a threat.

Halsey was stumped that two different attacks by a total of 800 aircraft had only managed to sink two capital ships. There was still plenty of light left for another go, but he hesitated. Halsey believed that the Japanese carriers still had a substantial number of fighters available, and was also worried about those based on Okinawa. While these fears were not unfounded, many contemporaries and historians alike accused Halsey of cowardice. He still had strikes to finish on Formosa, as well as the risk that any remaining planes from Luzon could pose. It seems he was concerned that anymore costly air actions could compromise the fleet's safety.

Therefore, with confidence in Lee's ability to destroy the Japanese, Halsey gave one of his most famous orders "Message Admiral Lee, prepare for an engagement with enemy battleships, carrier support should not be expected.

 

[Parmenion]

As night fell the Japanese and American forces closed in on one another. Admiral Lee had at his disposal all four Iowa class battleships, as well as the the older Cororado and West Virginia, accompanied by six heavy and ten light cruisers, as well as 30 destroyers. The Japanese force had the battered but still combat capable Yamato class battleships, along with Nagato and Kongo. These were joined by the an undamaged fleet of six heavy and six light cruisers, as well as 12 destroyers.

The fleet's came into sight of eachother at 2245, sailing almost directly at eachother. The range dropped quickly and at 2300, Iowa opened fire at 35,000 yards. Kurita declined to react for several minutes, hoping to close the range. At 2305, with the range down to 27,000 yards, Yamato opened fire as Kurita ordered the line to start turning west, which Lee mirrored. The maneuvering threw off both fleet's aim, and for several minutes no shells came close.

Finally at 2320 Missouri scored the first hit, plunging deep into Musashi's superstructure and causing a fire. Two more hits by Wisconsin were made on her, but these glancing blows bouced off her belt armor. At 2330 Yamato herself made the first hit on the Americans, hitting Iowa's second turret and disabling it. The force of the hit also knocked her radar out of alignment, causing her aim to suffer for the next half hour before she returned to optical targeting. By now both sides cruisers were attempting to get in on the action, but as they were generally behind their own battleships this was difficult.

At the rear of the line both Nagato and Kongo mistakenly targeted Colorado which was hit by three different shells in the span of five minutes. the first sent splinters into her aft turret, not disabling it but killing or maiming most of the gunners. The second two blew massive holes into her superstructure, one causing some minor flooding as it buckled her belt, the other killing the bridge crew and igniting a massive fire. Around 2345 Kurita gave the order for the fastest cruisers and destroyers to begin pulling ahead.

Lee ordered the firing line to shift, Iowa and Missouri would attack Yamato, while Wisconsin and New Jersey would take her sister. The old would be left to fight the old. At 0010 with the range down to 20,000 yards the American guns found their mark. Musashi had her two forward turrets knocked out, as the fire continued to spread. Kongo was the first to drop out, a shell from West Virginia smashed her rudder and halved her speed. Lee ordered a few cruisers and destroyers to go finish the ailing battleship, but her guns were still operational. In the two hours it took to finish her, she took out the Chester who was closing to within 6,000 yards to deliver the final blow.

Yamato landed another two hits on Iowa at 0030, one of which hit her deck and detonated against the interior of the belt, resulting in a serious fire and some moderate flooding in the lower decks. The other seems to have been a mistakenly loaded high-explosive shell, which destroyed a few of her secondary guns. Missouri responded by landing a full turret of hits amidships, which knocked out her power and seriously impeded her ability to fight. Musashi hit New Jersey with a blow that nearly penetrated her belt, before she too was given a barrage of hits.

Now the Japanese gunnery began to suffer, as the ships radar was either knocked out, or their shooting otherwise impeded. As the ships slowed, Lee ordered his own ships to begin crossing their T. Kurita by now knew his fleet was doomed, but he wasn't done yet. At 0100, with his flagship and largest warship in the world a burning, impotant wreck, he issued a message to be sent to Okinawa "Yamato and other battleships sinking. Am transfering command to Agano. Long live Japan

As he made this daring nighttime transfer, Nagato managed the last Japanese hit of the night, Colorado was hig in her boilers, reducing her speed to 10 knots. Lee was shocked as the Japanese remnants didn't try to flee, but instead began charging straight at him. This was made worse by the ships that had pulled ahead of him earlies, which meant he was under attack from two sides. The battleships didn't skip a beat, as they were joined by every other American ship in ripping the Japanese fleet to shreds.

Despite this the Japanese were undaunted, as they set to work filling the sea with torpedoes. The portion of the battle would last until 0500, and would end with every single Japanese ship being sunk. They would not go quietly. Boise and Wichita were both sunk, as were two destroyers, with another six ships damaged. The star of this engagement was the destroyer Shimakaze which with her 40 knot speed, and 15 torpedo launchers, dashed toward the American battle line. She managed to get within, 8,000 yards before launching her salvo, of which five hit the Iowa. The ship's list reached 25 degrees before counterflooding managed to stabilize her. Wisconsin was also hit by one torpedo but the damage was not severe.

Halsey would continue to mount airstrikes into Formosa over the next day, but the main phase of the battle was over. While he had been mauled, the 3rd fleet did not lose a single capital ship. The Japanese had tried and failed to break the American lines, and were irrepairably shattered by this action. Japan had gotten it's decisive battle, and lost.

 

[mattep74]

As Halsey became aware of the damage to the Japanese fleet around noon, he was faced with a conundrum. While he had begun the battle with around 1,500 aircraft, losses, damage, and wounded pilots meant he was down to less than 800 operational planes. Moreover, these aircraft were scattered on dozens of different carriers, some operating in more damaged groups than others. Essentially Halsey had two options, he could launch another strike now with about 200 aircraft, or he could wait until the afternoon and launch a much larger attack with 600. He chose the former, partly due to fears of losing the daylight, but mostly due to not wanting Kurita to get any closer to his main body.

At 1330 Halsey's strike took off. With the distance between the fleets now quite small the, planes had some difficulty forming up before they arrived. Ozwa had just begun to turn his surviving carriers North, but nonetheless sent his remaining 30 Zero's to save Kurita. The battlefleet fratically prepared for another attack, sickbay's still clogged with the mangled gunners who had bore witness to the first. Some destroyers brought themselves dangerously close to the battleships to impede torpedo attacks.

Shortly thereafter the skies were filled with the sounds of engines once again. The hopelessly outnumbered Zero's resorted to ramming attacks, as other flew head-on with American bombers to force them to pull away. All the while the flak guns roared desperate to defend their ships. The destroyer tactic proved effective, though it cost them the Ume and most of her crew when an Avenger called her bluff. Amazingly one hit was scored on the Kongo when a torpedo bomber managed to squeeze between her and a destroyer barely 100 yards away, the torpedo nearly decapitating some of the destroyers gunners.

The dive bombers had better luck. Yamato had two guns on her forward turret disabled by a hit. Mutsu was destroyed in a spectacular explosion as a lucky angled hit detonated her magazine. Nagato suffered a serious fire when her floatplane fuel stores were hit. This was brought under control, but not before many crew members were burned or suffocated to death. The American force returned 30 planes lighter, and having reduced the fighter complement of the entire Combined Fleet to six damaged Zero's, but still the battle fleet posed a threat.

Halsey was stumped that two different attacks by a total of 800 aircraft had only managed to sink two capital ships. There was still plenty of light left for another go, but he hesitated. Halsey believed that the Japanese carriers still had a substantial number of fighters available, and was also worried about those based on Okinawa. While these fears were not unfounded, many contemporaries and historians alike accused Halsey of cowardice. He still had strikes to finish on Formosa, as well as the risk that any remaining planes from Luzon could pose. It seems he was concerned that anymore costly air actions could compromise the fleet's safety.

Therefore, with confidence in Lee's ability to destroy the Japanese, Halsey gave one of his most famous orders "Message Admiral Lee, prepare for an engagement with enemy battleships, carrier support should not be expected.

If the Americans win this then we will see many movies about this battle

 

[Parmenion]

If the Americans win this then we will see many movies about this battle

Yeah TBH I've had this bouncing around my head for a while now, too bad I'm not famous enough to just tell someone to make an animation on this and have it happen lol.

 

[Sekhmet_D]

The Yamato-class versus Iowa-class outcome that many would undoubtedly be displeased to hear, but which also probably is closer to the truth than anything in their heads.

 

[Parmenion]

The Yamato-class versus Iowa-class outcome that many would undoubtedly be displeased to hear, but which also probably is closer to the truth than anything in their heads.

And I feel I gave them a good showing for being damaged and outnumbered.

 

[Obfuscated]

Was the USN already aware of the Yamatos sporting 18.1 inchers or are the finding that out now, afte the fact, when measuring shell hits during damage surveys?