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Submarine action in Palawan Passage (23 October)
(Note: this action is referred to by Morison as "The Fight in Palawan Passage",[7] and elsewhere, occasionally, as "the Battle of Palawan Passage").



Admiral Kurita's force at anchor in Brunei
As it sortied from its base in Brunei, Kurita's powerful "Center Force" consisted of five battleships (Yamato, Musashi, Nagato, Kongō, and Haruna), ten heavy cruisers (Atago, Maya, Takao, Chōkai, Myōkō, Haguro, Kumano, Suzuya, Tone and Chikuma), two light cruisers (Noshiro and Yahagi) and 15 destroyers.[7]

Kurita's ships passed Palawan Island around midnight on 22–23 October. The American submarines Darter and Dace were positioned together on the surface close by. At 00:16 on 23 October, Darter's radar detected the Japanese formation at a range of 30,000 yd (27,000 m). Her captain promptly made visual contact. The two submarines quickly moved off in pursuit of the ships, while Darter made the first of three contact reports. At least one of these was picked up by a radio operator on Yamato, but Kurita failed to take appropriate antisubmarine precautions.[7]

Darter and Dace traveled on the surface at full power for several hours and gained a position ahead of Kurita's formation, with the intention of making a submerged attack at first light. This attack was unusually successful. At 05:24, Darter fired a blast of six torpedoes, at least four of which hit Kurita's flagship, the heavy cruiser Atago. Ten minutes later, Darter made two hits on Atago's sister ship, Takao, with another spread of torpedoes. At 05:56, Dace made four torpedo hits on the heavy cruiser Maya (sister to Atago and Takao).[7]

Atago and Maya quickly sank.[12] Takao turned back to Brunei, escorted by two destroyers—and was followed by the two submarines. On 24 October, as the submarines continued to shadow the damaged cruiser, Darter ran aground on the Bombay Shoal. All efforts to get her off failed, she was abandoned; and her entire crew was rescued by Dace. Efforts to scuttle Darter failed over the course of the next week, including torpedoes from Dace and Rock that hit the reef (and not Darter) and deck-gun shelling from Dace and later, Nautilus. After multiple hits from his 6" deck guns, the Nautilus commander determined on 31 October that the equipment on Darter was only good for scrap and left her there. The Japanese did not bother with the wreck.

Takao returned to Singapore. She was joined in January 1945 by Myōkō.

Atago sank so rapidly that Kurita was forced to swim to survive. He was rescued by the Japanese destroyer Kishinami, only then to be transferred to the battleship Yamato.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battl...ne_action_in_Palawan_Passage_.2823_October.29

If the Center Force had not been attacked, they did not disperse, no losses three heavy cruisers and can Japan win?

Battle of Leyte Gulf is determined mainly by fighters on US carriers. A lot of US Navy planes were Japanese antiaircraft artillery shot down (>200). If Kurita's forces were full, they will support better anti-aircraft
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