--- title: Battle of Leyte Gulf: World War II and Naval Military History description: The Battle of Leyte Gulf took place 70 years ago canonical: https://time.com/3532385/battle-of-leyte-gulf/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-24T11:00:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T10:57:20.393Z article:section: History og:title: Battle of Leyte Gulf: World War II and Naval Military History og:description: The Battle of Leyte Gulf took place 70 years ago og:url: https://time.com/3532385/battle-of-leyte-gulf/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Battle of Leyte Gulf: World War II and Naval Military History twitter:description: The Battle of Leyte Gulf took place 70 years ago twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # This Vintage Map Shows the 'Greatest Battle in the History of Naval Warfare'  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Oct 24, 2014 11:00 AM UTC  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Oct 24, 2014 11:00 AM UTC TIME In 1959, reflecting on the Battle of Leyte Gulf from a distance of 15 years, TIME declared that the World War II engagement — between the Japanese navy and U.S. troops on and around the island of Leyte, which the U.S. had taken a few days before — was “the greatest battle in the history of naval warfare.” (_The map above is from that issue; roll over to zoom on a desktop or click if you’re viewing on mobile.)_ The battle began on Oct. 23, 1944, when Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita of Japan led a fleet into the region and was flushed out by U.S. submarines. Over the course of three days of heavy fighting, the U.S. troops crippled the Japanese navy — and in the process made clear that old-fashioned line-of-battle style naval warfare no longer made sense, ending a military tradition that had been in place for centuries. The battle was also a crucial step in [General Douglas MacArthur](http://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19441030,00.html)‘s making good on his famed 1942 “I shall return” promise to the Philippines. But the troops weren’t the only Americans there — TIME correspondents were also in the area, sending dispatches back to the office. In the magazine’s Oct. 30, 1944, letter from the publisher, TIME [explained](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,801435,00.html) how the process worked: --- > “” --- **_Read TIME’s full 1959 remembrance of the Battle of Leyte Gulf, here in the archives:_** [Greatest & Last Battle of a Naval Era](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,864957,00.html) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3532385/battle-of-leyte-gulf/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3532385/battle-of-leyte-gulf/"},"headline":"This Vintage Map Shows the 'Greatest Battle in the History of Naval Warfare'","datePublished":"2014-10-24T11:00:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:57:20.393Z","description":"The Battle of Leyte Gulf between Japanese and U.S. forces took place 70 years ago","url":"https://time.com/3532385/battle-of-leyte-gulf/","keywords":["conflict","World War II"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/conflict/","name":"conflict"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3532385/battle-of-leyte-gulf/","name":"This Vintage Map Shows the 'Greatest Battle in the History of Naval Warfare'"}}]}] ```