World Battlefronts: Story of Victory

The story of the Second Battle of the Philippine Sea had been told and there was no doubt about its result: in three days of swirling attack and blasting defense the U.S. Navy had won a great victory. But among pundits in & outside the Navy, there was nevertheless a question still to argue. Its nub: had Admiral William F. Halsey Jr., commander of the mighty Third U.S. Fleet, taken a long chance and endangered the safety of the Leyte beachhead?

Last week the Navy Department issued its considered summary of the three-part battle, and the pundits had their answer. Conclusions which even the most conservative could not escape: 1) the battle had indeed struck Japan’s Navy a blow from which it would never recover (TIME, Nov. 6); 2) U.S. losses were relatively light;* 3) Halsey had taken a chance; 4) it had worked.

The Main Chance. As it must to all admirals in battle, the chance came to “Bull” Halsey at a moment when the big decision had to be made quickly and followed fearlessly. At that point the southernmost of the Jap’s three prongs was thrusting east through Philippine waters toward Surigao Strait, south of the Leyte beachhead, while another was in a position to attack the beachhead from the north.

The southern prong had been struck by air attack, was plowing on. Before it stood the heavy firepower of Vice Admiral Thomas Cassin Kinkaid’s Seventh Fleet. The Seventh would stop it, and smash it to bits in the twelve-mile-wide gut of Surigao. The northern group, approaching San Bernardino Strait, had also been air-attacked. Airmen reported that it had been turned back.

It was then that Bull Halsey got news that a fast Jap carrier task force was steaming down along the eastern coast of Luzon, and that was Halsey’s meat.

Without batting an eye, Halsey made his decision: to pull out the Third Fleet, whip north and destroy the carriers. That was what he did, swiftly and without hesitation. But the enemy still had a play up his sleeve. As Halsey turned north to battle, the center task force of the Japs reversed course and headed out again from the inner waters toward San Bernardino Strait. Seemingly the change was not detected by U.S. reconnaissance. By the time Halsey’s aircraft and ships had smashed the Jap carrier group off Luzon, the San Bernardino Strait force had burst out into the open and was steaming south toward Leyte Gulf.

The Unseen Players. The Japs ran into heroic but weak defense. Their heavy-gunned battleships closed on the U.S. escort carriers, which launched their planes, then gallantly fought with 5-inch guns while they ran a losing race to the south. The two destroyers and the destroyer escort piled in after the manner of their kind, launched torpedoes, got some hits, were sunk. But by this time part of Halsey’s force had wheeled away from the northern battle and was tearing south again. Would it be in time to save the Leyte shipping from disaster?

The Jap admiral had his problems, too. To the south the other arm of the pincers (through Surigao Strait) had been broken. Between him and escape in that direction lay Kinkaid’s main force, unhurt and full of fight. And toward him from the north steamed Halsey with the most powerful force in the Pacific; Halsey’s first planes were already thundering toward Leyte Gulf. The Jap admiral made his own quick decision: he turned and fled into San Bernardino Strait.

When the U.S. Navy’s score of enemy destruction was finally complete last week, it was not greatly different from the summary published two weeks ago. The Japs had lost two battleships, four carriers, six heavy cruisers, two light cruisers, an undetermined number of destroyers. Severely damaged and ticketed for months of repair (perhaps under U.S. bombing) were a third battleship, five cruisers, seven destroyers. Less hard hit, but damaged, were six battleships, five cruisers, ten destroyers.

That was the score of the most decisive Pacific battle since Midway, where the Japs had and lost the chance to change the course of the war. What-might-have-been in the Philippine Sea, i.e., the destruction of MacArthur’s shipping, might have been a serious, but probably not a decisive Setback. What-was turned out to be a bright page in history. To Navymen, and particularly naval airmen, black-browed, husky Bull Halsey was more than ever one of the sea’s immortals.

* A light carrier (Princeton), two escort carriers (St. Lo and Gambier Bay), two destroyers (Johnston and Hoel) and one destroyer escort (Samuel B. Roberts).