The tin can sailors

        This top picture is a navy destroyer like that used in the battle.

       The picture below is the Japanese battleship Yamato.

       For those of you interested in navy battles, this one is for you. In October 1944 the American forces landed at Leyte in the Philippines. The Japanese sent their greatest surface battle force to pulverise the 200,000 Americans who had just landed and destroy the American support ships there for the troops. The Japanese battle force showed up ready for business and a small US 7th fleet task force with 13 ships consisting of 6 escort carriers 3 destroyers and 4 escort destroyers (all small ships and all outgunned; the biggest gun in the American force was a 5 inch gun) attacked a far superior Japanese fleet of 23 ships with a complement of 4 battleships, 6 heavy cruisers, 2 light cruisers and 11 destroyers. One of the battleships in the Japanese force was the Yamato. That one ship had 18 inch guns and was bigger than all 13 ships in the American task force. For the US sailors it was a suicide attack but one necessary to try and protect the 200,000 American soldiers on Leyte.
       I read the book “The last of the tin can sailors” by James Hornfisher a few years ago and it had great details of the courage of those American sailors in a battle like the biblical story of David and Goliath. This morning I found this mixed video the battle off Samar island the video shows stylized and actual film clips of the battle. It is 43 minutes long, but is far less than the 250 pages of the book. It’s a great book and a good video.