Twilight of the Gods
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4. “MacArthur to COM3RDFLT,” October 21, 1944, #2240, in CINCPAC Gray Book, Book 5, p. 2389.
5. Carney, oral history, pp. 396–97.
6. Marsden, Attack Transport, p. 120.
7. Log of Captain Ray Tarbuck, U.S. Navy, entry for October 19, 1944, 0958, quoted in Barbey, MacArthur’s Amphibious Navy, p. 245.
8. Entry for 1400; Third Amphibious Force War Diary, October 20, 1944, p. 6, in NARA, RG 38, World War II War Diaries, Box 177.
9. Dickinson, “MacArthur Fulfills Pledge to Return,” in Stenbuck, ed., Typewriter Battalion. Dramatic Frontline Dispatches from World War II, p. 239.
10. Romulo, I See the Philippines Rise, p. 90.
11. Ibid., p. 91.
12. Ibid., p. 92.
13. Boquet, The Philippine Archipelago, p. 100.
14. USSBS, Interrogations of Japanese Officials, Nav No. 79, USSBS No. 390, Commander Shigeru Nishino, IJN.
15. USSBS, Interrogations of Japanese Officials, Nav No. 9, USSBS No. 47, Vice Admiral Takao Kurita.
16. USS Darter (SS-227) War Patrol Report No. 4, November 5, 1944, accessed August 12, 2017, https://issuu.com/hnsa/docs.
17. “Running Estimate” entry dated October 22, 1944, in CINCPAC Gray Book, Book 5, p. 2106.
18. Solberg, Decision and Dissent, p. 77.
19. USS Darter (SS-227) War Patrol Report No. 4, November 5, 1944, accessed August 12, 2017, https://issuu.com/hnsa/docs.
20. Thomas, Sea of Thunder, p. 190.
21. USS Dace (SS-247) War Patrol Report No. 5, November 6, 1944, Enclosure (A), p. 34, accessed August 12, 2017, https://issuu.com/hnsa/docs.
22. USS Dace (SS-247) War Patrol Report No. 5, November 6, 1944, Enclosure (A), p. 37, accessed August 12, 2017, https://issuu.com/hnsa/docs.
23. Matome Ugaki diary, October 23, 1944, Ugaki, Fading Victory, p. 487.
24. Solberg, Decision and Dissent, p. 99.
25. Tully, Battle of Surigao Strait, p. 68.
26. Halsey, Admiral Halsey’s Story, p. 211.
27. Yoshimura, Battleship Musashi, p. 159.
28. Astor, Wings of Gold, p. 361.
29. Solberg, Decision and Dissent, p. 105.
30. TG 38.3 War Diary, October 24, 1944.
31. David S. McCampbell account, in Wooldridge, ed., Carrier Warfare in the Pacific, p. 212.
32. Woodward, The Battle for Leyte Gulf, p. 52.
33. David S. McCampbell account, in Wooldridge, ed., Carrier Warfare in the Pacific, p. 212.
34. War Damage Report No. 62, U.S.S. Princeton (CVL-23), Loss in Action Off Luzon, 24 October 1944, accessed September 6, 2017, https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library.
35. Peggy Hull Deuell, “Death of Carriers Described,” in Reporting World War II, Part One, p. 549.
36. War Damage Report No. 62, U.S.S. Princeton (CVL-23), Loss in Action Off Luzon, 24 October 1944, accessed September 6, 2017, https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library.
37. John Sheehan, oral history, in Petty, ed., Voices from the Pacific War, p. 108.
38. Peggy Hull Deuell, “Death of Carriers Described,” in Reporting World War II, p. 550.
39. Excerpts from Birmingham war diary, quoted in Morison, History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Vol. 12, Leyte, p. 181.
40. Lee Robinson, oral history, in Petty, ed., Voices from the Pacific War, p. 239.
41. USSBS, Interrogations of Japanese Officials, Nav No. 115, USSBS No. 503, Vice Admiral Shigeru, Fukudome, IJN.
42. Jack Lawton, oral history, in Springer, Inferno, p. 134.
43. Robert Freligh, email to author, February 11, 2018.
44. Jack Lawton, oral history, in Springer, Inferno, p. 134.
45. Robert Freligh, email to author, February 11, 2018.
46. USSBS, Interrogations of Japanese Officials, Nav No. 83, USSBS No. 407, Captain Kenkichi Kato, IJN (Executive Officer, Musashi, when sunk at Leyte Gulf).
47. USSBS, Interrogations of Japanese Officials, Nav No. 9, USSBS No. 47, Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita.
48. Ito, The End of the Imperial Japanese Navy, p. 106. Ugaki approved of the westward turn, remarking in his diary: “I noticed that it would be more advantageous for tomorrow’s fighting if we could deceive the enemy by turning back once before evening.” Matome Ugaki diary, October 24, 1944, Ugaki, Fading Victory, p. 490.
49. Ito, The End of the Imperial Japanese Navy, p. 108.
50. Ibid.
51. USSBS, Interrogations of Japanese Officials, Nav No. 9, USSBS No. 47, Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita.
52. Thomas, Sea of Thunder, p. 223.
53. Haruo Tohmatsu, email to H. P. Willmott, December 3, 2003, quoted in Willmott, The Battle of Leyte Gulf, p. 132.
54. USSBS, Interrogations of Japanese Officials, Nav No. 64, USSBS No. 258, Rear Admiral Toshitane Takata, IJN, attached successively to the Staff of the Third Fleet, the Combined Fleet, and the Naval General Staff.
55. Ito, The End of the Imperial Japanese Navy, p. 111.
56. Matome Ugaki diary, October 24, 1944, Ugaki, Fading Victory, p. 490.
57. Asada, From Mahan to Pearl Harbor, p. 206.
58. Matome Ugaki diary, October 24, 1944; Ugaki, Fading Victory, p. 491.
59. Com 3rd Fleet to CINCPAC, 26 October 1944 (251317); NARA, RG 38, “CNO Zero-Zero Files,” Box 4, “CINCPOA Dispatches, October 1944.”
60. Third Fleet action report, Serial 0088, October 23–26, 1944, p. 3; Halsey Papers, Box 35, “Action Reports, Third Fleet, October 23–26, 1944,” LCMD.
61. “COM3RDFLEET to ALL TFC’S 3RD FLEET, ALL TGC’S OF TF 38 Info COMINCH, CINCPAC,” Oct 24, 1944, 0612; in CINCPAC Gray Book, Book 5, p. 2242.
62. Halsey, Admiral Halsey’s Story, p. 214.
63. Third Fleet action report, Serial 0088, October 23–26, 1944, p. 3; Halsey Papers, Box 35, “Action Reports, Third Fleet, October 23–26, 1944,” LCMD.
64. Third Fleet action report, Serial 0088, October 23–26, 1944, p. 3; Halsey Papers, Box 35, “Action Reports, Third Fleet, October 23–26, 1944,” LCMD.
65. Solberg, a direct eyewitness, names Doug Moulton, Harold Stassen, and Rollo Wilson, in Solberg, Decision and Dissent, p. 117.
66. Thomas, Sea of Thunder, p. 226.
67. COM3RDFLT to CTF 77, etc. (241124), in CINCPAC Gray Book, Book 5, p. 2243.
68. Gerald F. Bogan, oral history, p. 109.
69. Ibid.
70. Ibid., p. 113.
71. Conveyed by a member of Lee’s staff to Samuel Eliot Morison in a letter dated March 6, 1950, Morison, History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Vol. 12, Leyte, p. 195n34.
72. Cutler, The Battle of Leyte Gulf, p. 208.
73. Prados, Storm Over Leyte, p. 224.
74. Thomas, Sea of Thunder, p. 231.
75. Robert Bostwick Carney, oral history, p. 407.
76. Halsey to Nimitz, October 6, 1944, LCMD, Halsey Papers, Box 15.
77. Radford, From Pearl Harbor to Vietnam, p. 40.
78. Reynolds, The Fast Carriers, p. 258.
79. Roland Smoot, oral history, quoted in Adams, Witness to Power, p. 347.
80. Commander Task Force 77 to COMINCH, “Preliminary Action Report of Engagements in Leyte Gulf and Off Samar Island on 25 October 1944,” Serial 002335, November 18, 1944, FDR Library, FDR Map Room files, Box 186, enclosure: Dispatches, p. 19.
81. Action Report, USS West Virginia, “Action in Battle of Surigao Straits 25 October 1944,” Serial 0538, November 1, 1944. Comments by Captain Herbert V. Wiley.
82. Commander Task Force 77 to COMINCH, “Preliminary Action Report of Engagements in Leyte Gulf and Off Samar Island on 25 October 1944,” Serial 002335, November 18, 1944, FDR Library, FDR Map Room files, Box 186, p. 7.
83. Woodward, The Battle for Leyte Gulf, p. 89.
84. Tully, Battle of Surigao Strait, p. 84.
85. Action Report, USS West Virginia, “Action in Battle of Surigao Straits 25 October 1944,” Serial 0538, November 1, 1944.
Chapter Six
2. Yasuo Kato quoted in ibid., p. 47.
3. Shigeru Nishino quoted in Ito, The End of the Imperial Japanese Navy, p. 116.
4. Bob Clarkin quoted in Sears, “Wooden Boats at War: Surigao Strait,” World War II Magazine, Vol. 28, Issue No. 5, February 2014.
5. “Lone PT Attacked Japanese Fleet,” New York Times, November 14, 1944.
6. Action Report, USS West Virginia, “Action in Battle of Surigao Straits 25 October 1944,” Serial 0538, November 1, 1944.
7. Bates, U.S. Naval War College Battle Evaluation Group Report, The Battle for Leyte Gulf, Vol. 5, “Battle of Surigao Strait,” p. 322.
8. USSBS, Interrogations of Japanese Officials, Nav No. 79, USSBS No. 390, Commander Shigeru Nishino, IJN.
9. Tully, Battle of Surigao Strait, p. 158.
10. Bates, U.S. Naval War College Battle Evaluation Group Report, The Battle for Leyte Gulf, Vol. 5, “Battle of Surigao Strait,” p. 328.
11. Ibid., p. 395.
12. USSBS, Interrogations of Japanese Officials. Nav No. 79, USSBS No. 390, Commander Shigeru Nishino, IJN.
13. Tully, Battle of Surigao Strait, p. 185.
14. Ibid., p. 186.
15. Ibid., p. 188.
16. Smoot quoted in Morison, History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Vol. 12, Leyte, p. 228.
17. Action Report, USS West Virginia, “Action in Battle of Surigao Straits 25 October 1944,” Serial 0538, November 1, 1944. Comments by Captain Herbert V. Wiley.
18. Comments by commanding officer of the Denver, “Battle Experience: Battle of Leyte Gulf, Information Bulletin No. 22,” U.S. Navy Department, March 1, 1945, p. [78–20].
19. James L. Holloway III, “Second Salvo at Surigao Strait,” Naval History 24, No. 5, October 2010.
20. Tully, Battle of Surigao Strait, p. 194.
21. Comments by commanding officer of the Daly, “Battle Experience: Battle of Leyte Gulf, Information Bulletin No. 22,” U.S. Navy Department, March 1, 1945, p. [78–24].
22. Tully, Battle of Surigao Strait, p. 212.
23. USSBS, Interrogations of Japanese Officials, Nav. No. 79, USSBS No. 390, Commander Shigeru Nishino, IJN, November 18, 1945.
24. Ibid.
25. Action Report, USS West Virginia, “Action in Battle of Surigao Straits 25 October 1944.”
26. Bates, The Battle for Leyte Gulf, October 1944, Vol. 5, “Battle of Surigao Strait,” p. 329.
27. Prados, Storm Over Leyte, p. 25.
28. Tully, Battle of Surigao Strait, p. 227.
29. Morison, History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Vol. 12, Leyte, p. 240.
30. Comments by commanding officer of the Denver, “Battle Experience: Battle of Leyte Gulf, Information Bulletin No. 22,” U.S. Navy Department, March 1, 1945, p. [78–20].
31. Tully, Battle of Surigao Strait, p. 239.
32. Morison, History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Vol. 12, Leyte, p. 238.
33. James L. Holloway III, “Second Salvo at Surigao Strait,” Naval History 24, No. 5, October 2010.
34. USSBS, Interrogations of Japanese Officials, Nav No. 41, USSBS No. 170, Commander Tonosuke Otani, IJN, Operations Officer on the Staff of C-in-C Second Fleet.
35. Koyanagi, “The Battle of Leyte Gulf,” in Evans, ed., The Japanese Navy in World War II, p. 369.
36. Sprague, “The Japs Had Us on the Ropes,” American Magazine, Vol. 139, No. 4, April 1945, p. 40.
37. Michael Bak Jr., oral history, pp. 154–55.
38. Koyanagi, “The Battle of Leyte Gulf,” in Evans, ed., The Japanese Navy in World War II, p. 367.
39. Yamato action report, quoted in Lundgren, The World Wonder’d, p. 21.
40. Sprague, “The Japs Had Us on the Ropes,” p. 40.
41. White Plains (CVE-66) action report, quoted in Lundgren, The World Wonder’d, p. 29.
42. Ibid., p. 31.
43. Ibid., p. 35.
44. Huxtable, “Composite Squadron Ten, recollections,” p. 7.
45. Ibid., p. 9.
46. Captain Sugiura of the Haguro, quoted in Lundgren, The World Wonder’d, p. 57.
47. Morison, History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Vol. 12, Leyte, p. 253.
48. Robert C. Hagen, as told to Sidney Shalett, “We Asked for the Jap Fleet—and Got It,” Saturday Evening Post, May 26, 1945, accessed August 14, 2018, http://www.bosamar.com/pages/hagen_story.
49. Ibid.
50. Ibid.
51. Sprague, “The Japs Had Us on the Ropes,” p. 40.
52. CTF 77 to COM3RDFLT, October 24, 1944, CINCPAC Gray Book, Book 5, p. 2246.
53. Halsey, “The Battle for Leyte Gulf,” Naval Institute Proceedings, May 1952, Vol. 78/5/591.
54. Task Group 38.3 War Diary, October 25, 1944 entry.
55. Weil quoted in Buell, Dauntless Helldivers, p. 348.
56. Davis, Sinking the Rising Sun, pp. 275–76.
57. Ibid., p. 276.
58. USSBS, Interrogations of Japanese Officials, Nav No. 36, USSBS No. 150, Captain Toshikazu Ohmae, IJN.
59. Task Group 38.3 War Diary, October 25, 1944 entry.
60. CTF 77 to COM3RDFLT, CTF 34, in CINCPAC Gray Book, Book 5, p. 2246.
61. Halsey, “The Battle for Leyte Gulf,” Naval Institute Proceedings, May 1952, Vol. 78/5/591.
62. Solberg, Decision and Dissent, p. 152.
63. CTF 77 to COM3RDFLT, CTF 34, in CINCPAC Gray Book, Book 5, p. 2246.
64. COM3RDFLT to CTG 38.1, in ibid.
65. CINCPAC Gray Book, Book 5, pp. 2246–47.
66. CTF 77 to COM3rdFLT, in ibid., p. 2247.
67. COM3rdFLT to CTG 38.1 info ALL TFC’S AND TGC’S 3rd Fleet, CTF 77, Com7thFlt, in CINCPAC Gray Book, Book 5, p. 2247.
68. CTF 77 to COM3RDFLT, in CINCPAC Gray Book, Book 5, p. 2246.
69. Charles M. Fox Jr., oral history, March 17, 1970, in Recollections of Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, pp. 2–3.
70. COM3RDFLT to CTF 77, in CINCPAC Gray Book, Book 5, p. 2250.
71. James Fife, oral history, CCOH Naval History Project, Vol. 2, No. 452, p. 400. According to Halsey’s May 1952 article in Proceedings, Kinkaid radioed in plain language at 10:00: “WHERE IS LEE. SEND LEE.” This despairing cri de coeur has been quoted frequently, but no such message appears in the CINCPAC Gray Book, and since Halsey’s article loosely paraphrases several other messages, it may not be verbatim.
72. Lieutenant John Marshall quoted in Wukovits, Admiral “Bull” Halsey, p. 196.
73. Joseph J. Clark, oral history, p. 501.
74. Bernard Austin, oral history, p. 514.
75. Chester W. Nimitz, “Some Thoughts to Live By.”
76. Bernard Austin, oral history, p. 513.
77. CINCPAC to COM3RDFLT Info COMINCH, CTF 77, in CINCPAC Gray Book, Book 5, p. 2250. Austin claims to have dictated it to a yeoman; Hedding says he watched Sherman write it. Bernard Austin, oral history, p. 514; Truman J. Hedding, oral history, pp. 97–98.
78. Potter and Nimitz, eds., The Great Sea War, pp. 389–90n.
79. Charles M. Fox Jr., oral history, March 17, 1970, in Recollections of Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, p. 3. Fox’s superior officer, Ham Dow, confirmed the details in a 1959 letter: Leonard J. Dow, RADM, U.S. Navy (ret.) to E. B. Potter, January 6, 1959. “Leyte, correspondence regarding, 1958–1959,” Halsey Papers.
80. Halsey, Admiral Halsey’s Story, p. 220.
81. Drury and Clavin, Halsey’s Typhoon, p. 49.
82. Thomas, Sea of Thunder, p. 300.
83. Charles M. Fox Jr., oral history, March 17, 1970, in Recollections of Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, p. 4.
84. Halsey to E. B. Potter, December 12, 1958, “Leyte, correspondence regarding, 1958–1959,” Halsey Papers.
85. Potter, Nimitz, p. 593 (Nimitz’s remark to the author quoted in his source notes for chapter 20).
86. Potter, Bull Halsey, p. 30
4.
87. COM3RDFLT to CTF 77 Info COM7THFLT in CINCPAC Gray Book, Book 5, p. 2250.
88. Report by Lieutenant Maurice Fred Green, Survivor of the Hoel, accessed October 2017, http://ussjohnston-hoel.com/6199.html.
89. Commanding officer, U.S.S. Hoel, “Combined Action Report and Report of Loss of U.S.S. Hoel (DD 533) on 25 October, 1944.”
90. Matome Ugaki diary, October 25, 1944, Ugaki, Fading Victory, p. 493.
91. Report by Lieutenant Maurice Fred Green, Survivor of the Hoel, accessed October 2017, http://ussjohnston-hoel.com/6199.html.
92. Ibid.
93. Matome Ugaki diary, October 25, 1944, Ugaki, Fading Victory, p. 495.
94. Report by Glenn H. Parkin, Survivor of the Hoel, accessed October 2017, http://ussjohnston-hoel.com/6253.html.
95. Michael Bak Jr., oral history, p. 155.
96. Ibid., p. 156.
97. Robert M. Deal, personal account, USS Johnston Veterans Association pamphlet, p. 70.
98. “Action Report—surface engagement off Samar, P.I., 25 October 1944,” USS Johnston, DD557/A16-3, Serial 04, November 14, 1944, submitted by “Senior Surviving Officer.”
99. Robert C. Hagen, as told to Sidney Shalett, “We Asked for the Jap Fleet–and Got It.” Saturday Evening Post, May 26, 1945.
100. Tadashi Okuno letter to the Asahi Shinbun, published in Gibney, ed., Senso, pp. 136–37.
101. USSBS, Interrogations of Japanese Officials, Nav No. 9, USSBS No. 47, Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita.
102. Koyanagi, “The Battle of Leyte Gulf,” in Evans, ed., The Japanese Navy in World War II, p. 368.
103. Sprague, “The Japs Had Us on the Ropes,” American Magazine, Vol. 139, No. 4, April 1945, p. 40.
104. CTF 77 to COM3RDFLT, etc., 250146 and 250231, CINCPAC Gray Book, Book 5, p. 2250.
105. Robert Bostwick Carney, oral history, p. 409.
106. Task Group 38.3 War Diary, October 25, 1944.
107. Ibid.
108. USSBS, Interrogations of Japanese Officials, Nav No. 55, USSBS No. 227, Vice Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa.
109. COM3RDFLT to CINCPAC Info etc., October 25, 1944 (251226), CINCPAC Gray Book, Book 5, p. 2256.
110. COM3RDFLT to CINCPAC, 26 October 1944 (251317). NARA, RG 38, “CNO Zero-Zero Files,” Box 4, “CINCPOA Dispatches, October 1944.”
111. C. Vann Woodward quoted in Shenk, ed., Authors at Sea, p. 232.
112. USSBS, Interrogations of Japanese Officials, Nav No. 9, USSBS No. 47, Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita.